Memories of a Hero
by Aix98
Summary: As the battle with Gaia ended, Percy's life took a surprising turn. Having to work with an unlikely ally, he has a mission to complete before the next prophecy takes place, much to Percy's luck. All while his friends l, including Annabeth, doesn't even remember who Percy Jackson is. Can Percy survive his next ordeal along with an old friend? Or will the Fates deliver their worst?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know I know. Y U no update other stories?! ! !? Relax. I've juat finish a gruelling 3 month semester and have finally been freed from academic duties... for now. So, I'm back! With a brand new story. You might have seen a similar story somewhere in this website, dont worry, that's me. Yeah. My account. Which is why you won't find it anymore. So. Here ya go! **

**Chapter 1**

As the Athena Parthenos stood on Half-Blood Hill, the battle raged on all around them. Demigods, both Greek and Roman, joined forces to fight against Gaia's forces. The demigods were hopelessly outnumbered, but it looked like they were winning the fight.

At least, it looked like it.

Percy noticed Annabeth, Piper and Reyna working together as a unit, hacking and slashing everything in their path. Jason used the wind to do his bidding and summoned lightning after lightning. To his left, Frank turned to a rhino with Leo riding on his back, shooting flames out of his hands, burning the enemy.

At the corner of his eye, Percy saw Nico and Hazel using the forces of the dead to help them, pushing the enemy lines back. Everything was going great and it looked like they were going to take the win.

Alas, it was never that easy.

The ground rumbled, the epicentre located among the army of monsters. From the ground, Gaia rose like a drill. The earth twisted around and formed a twenty-foot tall hooded figure wearing a brown robe.

_I'm awake_, Gaia muttered, but her voice seemed to resonate from below them rather than from the figure. Percy found himself standing next to Jason.

"There's Queen Dirt Face," Jason muttered. "Any ideas?"

"I've got nothing," Percy admitted. "Got any more lightning bolts up your sleeve?"

"I can squeeze out one more," Jason said. "Then I might pass out,"

Percy took a good look at the situation. "I have a plan," Percy said. Jason looked at him before grinning and nodded.

"Nice knowing you, Jackson,"

"Don't get sentimental now," Percy smirked. He ran towards Gaia, slashing and hacking the enemy lines, making a straight line towards the primordial.

_Your attempts are futile, _Gaia said. _I will see your lands destroyed!_

Percy let out an ungodly scream as the ground beneath her erupted into a massive geyser that was powerful enough to lift her off the ground. Percy took the current up towards where Gaia was being pushed up by the torrent of water.

_Gah! I will-_ Gaia sputtered. -_kill you!_

"Shut up!" Percy landed on her primordial torso. He stabbed his sword into her body and ran it all the way up to her face. Behind him, Jason landed and stabbed her on the neck. The primordial howled in pain. "Jason, you have to strike her with lightning now."

"But you'll need to leave, or you'll be vaporized to bits,"

"Just do it! I have to hold her here. I'll be fine." Percy insisted. He knew what was going to happen.

"But-"

"Do it now Grace!" Percy shouted. Gaia tried to reach for him, but he sliced her hand out of the way. The geyser was getting weaker, but he knew he had to hold on. Reluctantly, Jason flew away and let loose his final and most powerful lightning bolt ever. The flash blinded everyone momentarily, but it vaporized everyone within five meters of the blast zone.

After being blinded momentarily, their visions returned. When the dust cleared, nothing was left. The enemy realizes their defeat and retreated. Where Percy and Gaia had been, there was nothing left but a huge crater.

Annabeth and the other demigods went towards the scene, only to find Jason passed out near the crater and Percy nowhere to be seen. "Where's Percy?" Annabeth asked. As she leaned towards the crater, a figure flew out at blinding speed. Nothing was seen of it except a blurry shadow with what looks like to be wings. Everyone stared at it. As the figure flew, it let out a trail of white dust that could be mistaken as snow.

Everyone watched it, breathed it in and then looked around in confusion. "What was that?" Nico asked.

Then, everyone noticed that they had no idea how they got there. "Um, what happened?" Piper asked. "What's going on?"

"Why do I feel so tired?" Nico wheezed as he collapsed.

It appears that no one remembered what had happened, why it happened and how it happened.

Moreover, no one remembered the individual known as Percy Jackson.

**Line Break**

No one knew what happened after that blinding light engulfed them. As the demigods of the prophecy gathered at the porch of the Big House, the others tried as best as they could to pick themselves up.

They recalled everything that had happened. Hera's crazy plan to switch the leaders between the two camps, Roman and Greek, then the very gruesome and long quest to travel to Ancient Greece to fight the giants along with the Gods of Olympus and their tiring fight with Gaia. But after that, everything seemed like a blur.

And they felt like they had forgotten something.

"So, it all worked out in the end huh," Jason sighed.

"Yeah," Hazel said, picking up a gold bar and feeding it to Arion. "But, something feels weird,"

The others nodded in agreement. No one remembered Gaia's defeat and how she was defeated. But it didn't feel like she retreated. It was more like she just disappeared.

"Well, we won anyway," Leo stretched his arms. "And that deserves a hot bath."

They laughed and enjoyed their victory.

Little do they know . . .

**Line Break**

As Annabeth went back to her beloved bunk in the Athena's Cabin after months being away from it, she never felt more at home. She crashed herself onto her bed, but not before noticing something on her bedside table.

It was a picture of her and someone she didn't recognize. The man had jet black hair and sea green eyes, which she found strangely attractive. In the picture, both of them were wearing the orange camp shirt and took a picture right next to the canoe lake, but Annabeth had no memory of him. She felt like she should know him, but her brain just won't remember him.

Reluctantly, she set it back on the table and went to sleep. She was just a few seconds away from drifting into sleep before a voice whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry,"

Annabeth fell asleep afterwards, convinced it was just a dream.

**A year later . . .**

The Hunters of Artemis were in trouble. Their encounter with Orion last year had diminished their group into half of their previous number.

Zeus had ordered them to hunt down the last remnants of Gaia's forces. What he didn't tell them was that those remnants included gigantes and large armies of monsters.

Even though Gaia was defeated, her forces still existed, waiting for another chance.

Thalia expected it to be tough, but she hadn't expected it to be _this_ tough. Even with the goddess Artemis on her side, it didn't look like an even fight.

The Hunters of Artemis were surrounded in the forest, the monsters eyeing on them like a tasty snack. Artemis looked tired. Thalia didn't know immortal beings could get tired, but everyone has their limits.

"I want you girls to leave," Artemis huffed. "I'll hold them off,"

"Not gonna happen," Thalia argued as she shot down another monster. "We are not leaving you here," They were left only with a dozen hunters left and all of them don't look any better.

"Thalia, that's an order!"

"I'm disobeying that order," Thalia said. "I'm not leaving you,"

Artemis fired two arrows at once, catching both monsters with precise accuracy. Thalia ran out of arrows and used her hunting knives. She leaped forward gracefully and sliced at the neck of a hellhound before running her weapon down the gut of a cyclops. She blocked a sword strike and used the other knife to stab the gut of her attacker.

Without her realizing, an Earthborn had sneaked up behind her. Artemis had just enough time to yell, "Thalia!" as the Earthborn slammed its club down on Thalia. Dread crawled under Artemis's skin, fearing for her lieutenant's safety.

Surprisingly, Thalia survived. Behind her, a man stood with his back facing her. He wore a black and long coat with a hood over his head. He had blocked the attack with his sword, which was a single-edged blade that was probably a meter and a half long. She would've mistaken it for an oversized odachi - a Japanese sword-, but the blade wasn't curved even though it only had one sharp edge.

How such a thin weapon could block an attack with a club, Thalia had no idea. But the man didn't seem like he was struggling with it. In fact, he didn't seem to exert any energy holding the Earthborn's attack.

"You should go," The man said to Thalia. "You'll be safer with your goddess."

Thalia rushed towards Artemis who sighed in relief at the sight of his lieutenant. There was a loud sound as if someone had just sliced a pig with a single swipe. The man dressed in black stepped into view in front of the goddess. The monsters stopped attacking immediately. "Who are you?" Artemis demanded, but the man ignored her.

"Leave," The man told the enemy that's attacking Artemis.

The monsters huffed and grunted. The enemy forces consisted of monsters and demigods alike that pledged allegiance to Gaia. One of them stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"You should know who I am," The man said.

The enemy shuffled nervously. Thalia studied the man. Who was he? The monsters seemed to be scared of him. He's also emitting this really powerful aura. Maybe he's a god?

The man stabbed his sword into the ground. "Last warning. Leave now while your heads are still intact,"

"Tch," The enemy demigod drew his sword. "Get him!" The monsters and demigods charged at them. Artemis and her hunters were stood by, weapons on the ready as they prepare for the worst.

"Wrong move," The man muttered. He took his sword from the ground. He whispered to himself, "Lend me your strength," The sword glowed in vibrant blue before splitting into two more identical swords, but thinner and shorter. He moved with blinding light, slicing the enemy faster than they could see.

Artemis stood in awe, watching at the man's combat skills. He moved with the speed of a demon and the silence of the wind. He couldn't be a god, because if he was, Artemis could sense it. But there was a bit of godly power inside him. Maybe a demigod, but Artemis didn't know any demigod with skills as good as his.

He moved with stealth, using the bushes, shadows and trees as his cover, taking his enemy down quickly and silently.

The enemy force looked around themselves in confusion. Some of them dropped dead without any apparent reason and some of them collapsed as if the life was ripped out of them.

Artemis could only watch in fascination at the mysterious man, who was decimating enemies left right and centre. She wanted to help, but it didn't look like he needed any.

Soon, every single one of the enemy was dead and disintegrated into dust. By the time the swordsman stopped moving, his swords had already merged into one and was already sheathed in its scabbard that was strapped behind him.

The man turned towards the group of hunters, who were injured and beaten. Artemis was afraid that he might harm them, so she stood in front of her hunters with her bow ready and an arrow notched all the way back. "Take one more step and it'll be your last, demigod."

The man held his hands up. "I just wanted to check on you and your hunters if you're alright,"

"We're fine," Artemis growled. She didn't want to look weak in front of a man. "I am grateful for your help, but no further help is required,"

That was hard to believe. "I just want to help,"

"I don't accept help from people who I don't know," Artemis glared at the man. His face was hidden under the shadow from the hood. "Show yourself."

He pulled back the hood and revealed his face to the hunters. He had jet black hair and dazzling sea green eyes. He looked Artemis dead in the eyes, not budging a single inch. "Who are you?" Thalia asked.

"Percy Jackson," Percy said.

"What is your godly parentage?" Artemis asked.

Percy hesitated for a bit before answering, "No one,"

"Don't lie to me, mortal. I know a demigod when I see one," Artemis pulled her arrow a little further.

"Then I'm not lying to you when I say," He stepped closer. The arrow was just five feet away from Percy. "That arrow at this range won't harm me,"

"Liar,"

"Try me,"

Artemis didn't like being challenged, so she let the arrow fly. Percy leaned his left shoulder back, avoiding the arrow before he caught it and tossed it aside. "I told you, I'm not lying." Percy said.

Enraged, Artemis tried to fire another one but Thalia stopped her. "That's enough, Milady." Thalia said. "The others are hurt. Why don't we talk about this after we tend to our own wounds and set up camp and then go back to kill each other,"

Artemis glared at Percy, who met her eyes with his own glare. Reluctantly, Artemis agreed.

It didn't take long for the hunters to set up their camp. Partly because there were only a few of their hunters remained. Before, they had like fifty or sixty hunters. Now, there were only twenty of them, maybe even less. Everyone looked so tired and beaten up that they crashed in immediately.

Artemis, Thalia and Percy sat near the campfire. Artemis was still miffed about the fact that he had caught an arrow that she'd fired literally at point blank range. Thalia eyed at the stranger. She had the strangest feeling of deja vu, as if she's seen him before. "So, where are you from?"

"Nowhere," Percy answered almost instantly. "It's none of your concern."

"You will do well to answer my lieutenant's question." Artemis warned.

"I did. My answer is that it's none of your concern."

Artemis's hand trembled with rage. This boy is so disrespectful. It's not like he didn't know who she is. If he knew who she was, then he knew better than to mess with her, a goddess.

"Don't be rude, Percy. Your name's Percy, right?"

Percy nodded. "I know who you are."

"Then you know better than to disrespect a goddess," Artemis snarled. "It would take no effort to turn you into a shrub,"

To her surprise, Percy snickered. "Heard that before from all of the Olympians. It's getting old. You can try if you like. I won't stop you. " Percy challenged.

Artemis glared at him before snapping her fingers. She lost her patience and was going to turn Percy into a cockroach, but it didn't happen. Percy was still there, annoyingly.

"Why didn't my powers work on you?" Artemis growled.

"There are things that even you Olympians do not know about," Percy said with a smile. "Like how to prevent deities from changing you into bugs."

"Who are you, seriously?" Thalia asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I told you, I'm Percy Jackson," Percy said, but there was a slight different tone in his voice. Was it resentment? Or maybe guilt? Thalia couldn't recognize.

"Why did you save us?"

"I happen to pass by," Percy said, brushing the dirt off of his clothes as he stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now,"

"Where do you think you're going?" Artemis asked as Percy stood up.

"None of your business," Percy said as he pulled his hood over his head, hiding his face in the shadows. "I would say see you anext time, but I really don't want to,"

"Why?" Thalia asked.

"Because I've already served Olympus enough for one lifetime," Percy said in a dark tone.

"That's ridiculous," Artemis said. "I have not seen you ever in my life. If you have served Olympus, I think I would remember you."

Percy chuckled. "Well, who can blame you?" He started to walk away. "Until we meet again," As he trudged further and further into the woods, the darkness seem to swallow him.

"Do you know who that is, Lady Artemis?" Thalia asked.

Artemis shook her head. "If it was any demigod that fought in the Manhattan War, or the war with Gaia, I think I would know him. But his face doesn't seem familiar."

"Let's just get some rest," Thalia said. "I have a feeling we'll see him again very soon,"

**Line Break**

"There you are," Percy said as he picked up a rectangular mirror from the ground. The mirror looked like any other mirror with the length and width of a brick. The mirror was the reason why he was here in the first place.

In the hands of a mortal, the mirror would be nothing than a normal mirror. But in the hands of the right person, it's like having your own satellite. You can find anyone anywhere in the world. For a limited amount of time, you can also teleport to that location, but only once for every few hours.

Percy wondered to himself how it worked. "Show me Annabeth Chase," Percy said to the mirror. The mirror's surface shimmered, showing the scenery of Mount Olympus.

Annabeth was standing in one of the gardens, overseeing a renovation project. Percy knew she had been made the official architect of Olympus since the Titan War. She was just as beautiful as she remembered. Her blond hair had grown longer with streaks of brown dyed on it, but it was still the same Annabeth that Percy loved.

A lump formed in his throat, holding back a sob. It's been a year since that incident and he missed her every single moment. Every second away from her had been killing him slowly.

_Have you retrieved the relic, Perseus?_ A voice said in his head.

He took a deep breath before cutting the connection in the mirror. "Yes, I've got it."

_Are you looking at the girl again, Perseus?_

"I need to see her from time to time. You pulled me away from her, remember?"

_Well, I needed your-_

"Yeah, yeah, you needed my help," Percy muttered. "I just don't understand why you have to wipe everyone's memories."

_It's for the best. They were going to search for you if you went missing, and it'll only interfere with your duty._

"Whatever you say, Gaia,"

**A/N: Well, the end of Chapter 1. Again, I'm not stealing his stuff. Chill.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ah, fancy meeting you in the second chapter. **

**Chapter 2**

Percy had made a home for himself over the past year behind a waterfall. The cliff had a waterfall flowing down from it and the entrance to where he's been staying is behind it. A cave entrance that leads to a pretty nice crib. It's pretty much what you can ask for in a living place for all your demigod needs.

It's been Percy's home for the past year, thanks to Gaia. Gaia had approached him for help and the only way he's going to succeed is by cutting all connections he had to his previous life, remain anonymous and do as he was told.

The situation sucked immensely.

The waterfall was flowing rapidly, the way it was intended to be. No normal person could've entered his home but as a son of Poseidon, water is no trouble for him. He split the waterfall apart and entered his cave/home.

He went towards what he called the 'Storage Room'. He opened ithe door and placed the mirror he had collected neatly on a shelf. So far, he had collected fifteen of these relics, ranging from a book that's like an encyclopedia of monsters to fake chompers that can make you bite through everything (it was a traumatising experience when acquiring that one).

Gaia explained that the Greek pantheon, dating all the way back to Chaos, has their way with magical items. Some powers are to great for one man or god to keep, so they store it in certain items, or in other words, relics. There are numerous of them over the past few millennium, some have disappeared and some are hidden.

Percy had been selected by Gaia to find these things to prevent other forces getting their hands on them. Gaia feared something else is rising and they're going to need everything that can help them win this time.

Percy cleaned himself up and sat down on a couch. His home was simple. A cave lighted with magical lights and just enough furniture for him to not die of boredom. Including a satellite TV.

He turned it on, but his mind kept wandering back to Annabeth.

There hasn't been a moment where she didn't cross his mind. Leaving her was the hardest thing he could've done, but to save her and also his friends, he had to do it.

_Something in your mind, Perseus?_ Gaia spoke in his head.

"It's nothing," Percy muttered. He stared at his sword that was leaning against the wall in its scabbard. It was one of the relics he'd found. It was forged by Hephaestus and imbued with the power of Mars himself. The Blood Sword. The reason for that name is because of the powers and its cost. The sword is strong sword by itself, but when gain the blood of its user, its powers are devastating. But using it too much can drain the life out of someone.

The blade wasn't meant for mortals since its between the cooperation of Roman and Greek deities. It's similar to Backbiter, Luke's sword. It requires blood to forge two powers of the opposing side together.

_I know something's wrong,_ Gaia spoke again.

"Even if you do and I told you something's wrong, it's not like we can do anything about it anyway," Percy sighed. "It just hurts to see her from so far away,"

If Gaia was actually in front of him right now, she might be hugging him. _It's a sacrifice for you to bear._

"I think I've made enough sacrifices in my lifetime," Percy said. "I'm going to sleep,"

_Sleep well, my hero,_

**Line Break**

Artemis was back in Olympus for a council meeting.

And she was pissed.

No one dared to talk to her, even her own brother, because of the aura she's giving out. It's not like her aura radiated power, it's just like a woman in a very, _very_ bad mood.

The whole council was nervous. Artemis's mood was so bad that the hearth glowed dimly because of her.

Zeus was talking about some stuff, demigods popping everywhere and blah, blah, blah. Mean while, Athena, who was sitting next to Artemis, called for her.

"Is something wrong, sister?" Athena asked.

"I'm fine," Artemis grumbled.

"You know it's useless to lie to me," Athena said. "Goddess of Wisdom, remember?"

"I just don't want to talk about it," She grumbled again. It was weird for her to act like this. Athena thought she would ask someone who might know what happened. The lieutenant of her hunt, Thalia Grace.

"-be very wise so we could reduce the distance between the two camps," Poseidon was finishing up.

"Very well," Zeus nodded. "If there's nothing else, I would say that this meeting has concluded. Council dismissed!" Zeus announced before vanishing in a flash of lightning. Athena flashed towards the Garden of Herself, which is where her daughter, Annabeth, is currently working.

When she arrived, Annabeth was looking over the blueprints she'd made for the place. When she saw her mother, her eyes widened before she bowed. "Mother,"

Athena smiled. "Stand up my child,"

Annabeth stood up shakily. "Is something wrong?"

"Not quite," Athena said. "I need you to visit your friend, Thalia Grace,"

"Can I ask what it's about?"

"Well, it's about Artemis,"

"What's wrong?"

"She seems to be in a foul mood today and I would like to find out why. I tried asking her but she wouldn't tell me. So I need you to ask her lieutenant if there's anything wrong,"

Mentally, Annabeth groaned. She has enough in her hands already and now her mother wanted her to go on a little side quest that would be no trouble for a goddess.

But putting in mind that her mother was a goddess and she didn't want to invoke her wrath by defying her, she simply agreed. Besides, it's been a while since she'd seen Thalia and she missed her.

"Can you at least send me there so it's easier?" Annabeth said. Athena smiled and snapped her fingers. The scene seemed to twist around before changing into a different one. Annabeth felt queasy in the stomach from that and almost threw up. Luckily, she managed to hold it in. Annabeth found herself in a forest that was pretty secluded. To her left was the camp for the Hunters of Artemis.

She took a deep breath before going towards it. It's been a while since she saw Thalia, but who can blame her? They've both been busy, especially with all the war and everything.

It was dark at night, so they were probably sleeping. Annabeth had always wondered if the Hunters slept at night because their leader was the Goddess of the Moon. So night time was when they're most active, right? Food for thought.

Four tents surrounded a campfire, which was guarded by one person, Thalia himself. Annabeth remembered the Hunters when they were a large group. But now, there were no more than a school bus of girls.

"Hey," Annabeth greeted with a smile. Thalia looked around. When she saw Annabeth, her eyes lit up.

"Annabeth!" She exclaimed happily before crushing her with a big hug. Annabeth returned the hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a little errand," She told.

"Well, make yourself comfortable," Thalia said as she gestured her to sit down. "It's nice to see you,"

"Nice to see you too," Annabeth smiled. "It's been a while,"

"Yeah, ever since the Titan War," Thalia remembered. "So, what brings you here?"

"My mother had asked me to ask you something,"

"What is it?"

She looked around, as if to see if there's anyone watching them. "Is Artemis around?"

Thalia shook her head. "She's still at Olympus,"

She sighed in relief. "Today, during a council meeting in Olympus, my mom saw that Artemis acted a little . . . strange. She said Artemis was in a bad mood and she wanted to know why,"

Thalia just sighed. "Figures. After what happened, I knew it wasn't going to be a good day for her,"

"What happened?"

"Yesterday, we were trying to finish off some of Gaia's remaining forces. But we got outnumbered badly. A monster sneaked up on me and would've killed me, if it wasn't for him."

"Who?"

Thalia threw a piece of wood into the fire. Ashes flew up like fireflies in the dark. "He said his name was Percy Jackson, or something like that."

Something tugged at the back of Annabeth's head, like the feeling she'd heard that name before. But she decides to shrug it off. "Doesn't ring a bell,"

"Same with me and Artemis, but he said, and I quote, 'already served Olympus enough'."

Annabeth's face morphed into an expression of confusion. As a demigod, the term 'served Olympus enough' doesn't exist. When it comes to the gods, enough is never enough. But if he had served Olympus as much as he claimed he had, Annabeth should know him. Or maybe at least heard of the name.

"Any idea what he's like?"

Thalia scratched her head. "If I remember correctly, he had black hair and green eyes. That's about it,"

"You're hopeless,"

Thalia held her hands up. "In my defense, it was nighttime."

Annabeth just smiled. At least it wasn't anything major. She'd completed what her mother had asked for and now she just wanted to spend some time with her best friend.

But still, something didn't feel quite right about it.

**Line Break**

Percy had another mission: Mount Othrys.

Out of all the places these relics could be hidden, it had to be Mount Othrys. Which is actually Mount Tamalpais at the other side of the country.

Gaia helped with the traveling of course. If you think he got sucked into the earth and popped out at San Francisco, you're wrong.

She made a few pounds of gold to pop out of the dirt so Percy could sell it for mortal money and then get a flight ticket to San Francisco.

She's kind that way.

So Percy got his money and was now currently in an airplane, first class and chilling. His sword was disguised as a fancy cane so he didn't worry too much.

Of course he could've just flown from New York to San Francisco with one of the relics that gives you wings, but that's just tiring.

After wiping the memory of everyone that knew him, flying didn't frighten him as much anymore. Since Zeus didn't know that he was the son of Poseidon, he didn't have to worry.

"So what are we looking for this time?" Percy said as he leaned in his seat. "I hope it's not something overly small,"

Gaia was silent for a long time. Percy almost thought she wasn't there. "Um, hello?"

_A sand glass,_ Gaia said with a sad tone. _It belonged to my son._

"Which one?"

_You fought him before at Olympus,_

"Oh," Suddenly, his seat didn't feel that comfortable anymore. Facing Kronos was not one of the things he wanted to do again. "Um, he's not really there, is he?"

If Gaia had been in front of him, she would've probably shook her head. _He's in Tartarus, thanks to you._ There was a bit of resentment in his voice.

Percy didn't know if he was supposed to feel guilty for killing the Titan who almost destroyed Olympus or feel bad for killing her son.

So Percy answered: "He had it coming," It was the dumbest answer he could've said but hey, he did had it coming.

Gaia sighed. T_he relic has the power to control time, as you might expect. Either slow down time or freeze it completely._

"I don't get it," Percy said. "You guys are all powerful beings. Why don't you create something that could reverse time? Things could've gone your way if something like that was invented,"

_Time is like a stream of river flowing downhill. You can stop the flow, you can slow it down, you can make it go another way, but you can't make it flow uphill. It's just how it's made._

"Figures. Well, wake me up when we land. I need to get some sleep,"

_Sleep well._

Of course he didn't sleep well. He had a dream.

He was near the beach of Camp Half-Blood. It was night and the sea was calm as usual. There was no one around and it was peaceful.

Percy knew demigod dreams never goes happily. He's expecting the place to blow up or something because that's just how dreams work with demigods.

But nothing happened.

He stood there for what seemed like a few minute before someone said next to him: "Peaceful, isn't it?"

He turned and saw the person he least expected to appear in his dream. "Luke?"

Luke Castellan gave him a mischievous grin. "How are you Perce?"

"This isn't real, is it?"

"Well, it is your dream," Luke chuckled.

"How do you even know me? I thought the Lethe wiped your memory away?"

"You erased the memories of everyone alive. I'm dead, remember?"

Percy shrugged. "So, what's up?"

"First off, Beckendorf says hi. Oh, and he's getting married today,"

"With who?"

"With the Hulk." Luke rolled his eyes. "With Silena of course!"

"Oh," It didn't occur to Percy that you could get married in Elysium. Just the little things that await you in the afterlife. "Give my congrats to them,"

Luke laughed. "How's Annabeth?" Percy shrugged to question off. "Come on, being a year away from her like this, you must check on her from time to time,"

"She's doing fine, I guess. She doesn't remember me. At least she remembered you." Percy said. Then he shook his head. "How do you know what happened anyway? Do they have daily news in Elysium?"

"I have my ways," Luke winked. "Your name goes a long way in the Greek Pantheon, Percy. A lot of people and being knows you. Even if you wiped the memories of everyone on Earth about you, there will still be those who know you,"

"Great. More attention," Percy grumbled. "Just what I needed. I doubt you're here just to check up on me, right?"

Luke chuckled. "Partly that, yes. But also yes, I have something else to tell you," Then his face turned serious. "I've heard some of the old dead people talk. They said that what they've foretold is true. Everything has occurred the exact time they predicted,"

"I think I've had enough prophecies for one lifetime. But they're wrong. The Prophecy of Seven has happened. There's no other big prophecy than that. Everything has happened,"

Luke shook his head. Percy noticed the winds were picking up speed and the sea was getting restless. "I'm sorry to tell you. There's more."

Dread filled onto Percy's body. There's more? After all they've been through, _there's more_? "Explain."

"I don't know much about it either. But something big is coming. You need to be prepared. I don't know if involves the others, but what I know is you are involved."

"How do you know?"

"They mentioned a son or Poseidon," Luke said grimly. "I don't really know much else, but since you're the only son of Poseidon I know that's alivr, then it must relate to you,"

Percy felt like crying. First the Titan War and then the Giant War (including a bonus package of a romantic walk through Tartarus), and now this? "You're telling me after all I've done, there's more to it?"

This time, Percy realized a hurricane was forming just a few meters away from the beach. Percy didn't know if it was just from the dream or if it's happening in real life. That was why the wind was getting stronger.

But even with a hurricane just a few meters away, Luke stayed calm. His sandy blonde hair was whipping in the wind. "Just, be careful, alright? It's the least I could do after what you did for me." Luke said. "Well, someone else is here. I'll see you soon, okay?" Then he disappeared into the air.

Just as he disappeared, a familiar face ran towards him and grabbed his shirt. "Percy! Where are you right now?!"

"Rachel?" Percy asked, clearly confused.

"Percy, you're so stupid!" Rachel exclaimed. That was some kind of greeting. "Where are you? I have to find you right now."

No words flew out of Percy's mouth. He stood there speechless. He wanted to tell her, but for some reason his voice failed him.

Then, the hurricane got really close.

"Shit," Rachel muttered. "He's coming. Percy, I'm going to find you. Just stay safe okay? I'm going to get help and come for you. Remember, don't trust her Percy." The winds were roaring in his ears really loudly that her voice was barely heard. "Don't trust her!"

Then the scene melted and a voice said in his head, wake up!

Percy shot straight awake. His chest was pounding and he was sweating. Outside the plane, thunder boomed and the plane shook from turbulence.

What was that dream? And even more, why did Rachel remember him?

_Are you feeling alright, Perseus?_ Gaia asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a weird dream," Percy said, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "Where are we?"

_Half an hour before landing_.

Percy just nodded as he leaned back to calm himself down. Rachel told him not to trust her. But who is she talking about?

Also, Luke said something else is coming. And it involved him. Can't the Fates find a different demigod to bother?

What dreaded Percy the most was the fact that the dream was intentional instead of just a dream. He closed his eyes and thought of Annabeth, so he could calm his nerves down.

He wished she was here right now.

**Line Break**

Annabeth was back at Camp Half-Blood. It was a tiring day, but it was fun seeing her best friend again. Piper was with the Aphrodite campers, training their swordplay while the others are doing their own work. Frank, Reyna, Jason and Hazel were at Camp Jupiter while Leo was probably at Bunker Nine. Nico's probably in the Underworld, helping his father.

Annabeth was on her way to her own cabin when he saw the door to one of the vacant cabins was open. It was Poseidon's cabin. Why it was open, she had no idea. But she was curious, so she went inside. No one went inside since, well, since Annabeth could remember.

The inside was what you would expect from a cabin. Six bunk beds on each side left and right, a saltwater fountain stood at the corner of the room creating a small rainbow, perfect for Iris Messaging. Why hadn't they got something like that?

A robotic shark was floating near the ceiling so it looked like it was swimming through the air. It was confusing. If Poseidon didn't have any kids and the cabin was supposed to be just an honorary and vacant cabin, why would someone go out of their way to decorate the place?

Then, Annabeth noticed something different. The first bunk bed was different then the others. It'd been used, but not recently. The walls near it had been decorated with pictures of . . . her. It wasn't just her. It was her with some of her friends like Thalia, Grover and some others. But one similar thing about each picture was that someone was in it. Someone she didn't know. It was a boy, probably the same age she was in the picture. A handsome boy with jet black, messy hair and sea green eyes.

He had pictures of them when she was twelve. The most recent picture of him was of them over looking the camp with his arm around her. Annabeth looked genuinely happy in the picture. If she'd been that happy and had been dating him, wouldn't she remember him?

Besides, the man in the picture looked suspiciously like what Thalia had described. Black hair and green eyes.

"What the hell . . ." Annabeth muttered. She took the most recent picture and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Annabeth," Someone called and she jumped in surprise. She turned to the door to see Piper looking at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing," She said. "Just looking around,"

Piper scanned her surroundings. "This place is awesome. I thought Poseidon doesn't have any children?"

"He doesn't," Annabeth confirmed. "But someone wanted to decorate it,"

"Apparently so," Piper said. "Come on, it's time for lunch,"

"I'll be right with you," Annabeth smiled. She looked back at the cabin for one last time. Everything was weird right now. But one thing is for sure.

She has to meet this person that Thalia mentioned.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know this story is a bit cliche, but bear with me on this one. **

**Chapter 3**

Sometimes, Percy wondered if some people had a weird sense of humor that some of them would try to hijack a plane with a storm brewing.

"Everybody put your hands up!" A person suddenly shouted with a gun in his hand and a ski mask over his head. The passengers on board were surprised and some started to panic.

A stewardess tried to intervene. "Sir, I think you should calm down."

"Shut up!" The person said, his gun aimed at her. "I want to talk to your captain,"

The stewardess nodded shakily. "I-I'll bring you to him,"

"My friend will watch over the other cabin." He warned. "So if anyone tries anything funny, I'll shoot their brains out."

Everyone was trembling with fear, but not Percy. He just sighed. This was annoying. The stewardess came back and told the idiot to follow her to the cockpit. As they were about to walk past, Percy stood up with his cane.

"What are you doing?" A man who was sitting next to him whispered. "You're going to get us all killed!"

Percy winked at him before he walked towards where the hijacker had went. He found him on the next cabin, his gun was at the back of the stewardess. Another person was standing on the other side of the plane, wearing identical ski mask and holding a gun.

When the other one saw Percy, he shouted. "Hey!" The he aimed his gun at me. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The first guy turned around and saw Percy, then aimed his gun at him. Now, two guns were aimed at him.

"Hey, I'm just here to talk," Percy said with surprising calmness.

"Get back to your seat!"

Percy looked between them both. "I'll just get straight to the point. It'll be easier for both of us if you guys surrender,"

The second one laughed. "Who do you think you are, dumbass?!"

"Trust me, I don't want to hurt you guys either. But if you guys aren't giving me a choice, I'll have to-"

The first one fired his gun. Out of pure instinct, Percy ducked. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Percy, but it must've been his adrenaline. As the bullet sailed over his head, he swiped his cane so the stick hit the back of the bullet. He then used the bullet's own momentum to change it's direction and send it back at the one who fired.

The bullet hit the first man straight in the leg. The guy yowled in pain and crumpled to the floor. Without wasting any time, he rolled towards where the man was and pinned his hand with the gun with his knee.

"Wrong move," Percy muttered as he took the gun away. He aimed it at the second guy, who was staring at him in disbelief.

"H-How did you do that?"

Percy smirked. "You don't want to know. So what's it gonna be? Are you gonna drop your gun or do you want to end up like your buddy?"

The man was trembling as he aimed his gun now at Percy. The passengers were now shuffling nervously, bracing themselves on whatever that's going to happen.

"S-Shut up!"

"Here's the deal," Percy said. "I'm gonna count to three. In that time, you're gonna drop your gun, or you're gonna walk out of here with a bullet wound,"

"Don't fuck with me!"

"One,"

"Stop!"

"Two,"

As Percy was about to count to three, he yelled: "Fine! Fine!" And he dropped his gun. Percy sighed.

"Thank god you're not as dumb as your friend here," He turned towards the stewardess. "Tell the captain what happened. And get something to tie them both before we land. I'll make sure the police are waiting,"

"Thank you so much mister,"

"Just doing my civic duty," He gave her a lopsided grin. The passengers around him started to clap, cheered and thank him. He just smiled in return.

In truth, they could've taken both of these guys easily. There's more than a hundred people on board against two hijackers.

"That was a nice job you did there," A man said behind him. "I would've butted in, but I saw that you had it under control,"

"Well, could've used some help," Percy said as he turned around. When he saw him, his face paled a bit.

"Yeah well, I was a bit busy," Jason grinned.

**Line Break**

When they landed, the cops were waiting for the two criminals. They thanked Percy for his bravery and actions, blah, blah, blah.

Percy got out of the airport. It was nice to get some fresh air after all that. He didn't bring any luggage with him aside from his cane, which happens to be his sword.

There was no one around as he was waiting for a cab, which was weird. He thought airports were supposed to be busy.

Then his spine tingled and his hair rose up. He turned around instantly, raising his cane to defend himself. A blade met his cane midway, sending a few sparks.

He looked at his attacker, it was Jason.

Percy pushed him away. Jason grinned before his sword morphed into a golden coin. "Figures. Just as I expected, you're a demigod,"

"And you have an interesting way of saying so," Percy grumbled, clearly surprised from it.

"So, which side? Roman or Greek?" Jason asked.

"Greek," Percy said.

"Whose kid?"

"I don't know,"

"Then how do you know you're a Greek demigod if you don't know who your parent is?"

"Maybe I just don't want to tell you who it is," Percy said. Jason was just as obnoxious when he'd first met him. "Sorry, but I don't trust people who I don't know, especially when that person had just attacked me from behind,"

Jason held his hands up. "Good point. Can I at least know your name?"

Percy took a deep breath before answering. "Percy Jackson."

Jason offered his hand. Percy reluctantly shook it. "Jason Grace," There was a slight tingle in their handshake. Like two magnets of the same polarity being pushed together. "Where are you heading?"

"None of your business,"

"Jeez, not much of a talker are we? Well, I'm heading to a demigod camp just a few miles from here. If you want to, you can come with me. It's a Roman camp, if you were wondering."

Percy really didn't want to meet any of his old friends because it would make things harder for him, but he was tired and jetlagged and was too lazy to convert any more gold to money just so he could check into a hotel.

"Sure," He said. "But I won't be staying long,"

"Then I bet you I'll change your mind." Jason said. "Just wait for a few minutes. A friend of mine is picking us up."

_Better be not Frank the Dragon,_ Percy mused in his mind.

Then, the air turned heavier and darker. Percy and Jason sensed it at the same time. He flipped his coin and got his spear out. Around them, a bunch of monsters appeared at random, surrounding them in a circle. They stood with their backs against each other. "Percy, I hope you've got a weapon."

Percy snorted. "Worry about yourself, Grace. I can handle my own." Percy ran his palm over the shaft of the cane. In Jason's eyes, it shimmered into something else. A single edged blade that was far longer than any sword Jason has ever seen. It was like an oversized katana without a curve.

"What is that sword?" Jason asked. But Percy made no clear indication that he wanted to explain. Percy dashed forward with incredible speed before spinning around and slashed at a monster with just one swipe before he stepped back.

Jason had just met him, but he's showing excellent skill in swordsmanship. Mentally, he grinned. He couldn't lose to someone he just met. So he lunged forward and threw his spear onto the torso of an enemy before reaching for it, ripping it out and swiped the sharp end across the monster's face.

"Going for style points, are we?" Percy said with a smile.

Jason shrugged with a smile. "Can't lose to a new kid,"

"You're on, Grace," Percy said before working with the enemies on his side while Jason worked on his side. There were probably a dozen or so of them, so it wasn't much of a problem.

Percy slid to the ground and made an upwards kick at a monster before slashing his sword in midair, splitting it in half. He moved towards the next one and stabbed it before running his sword all the way from the gut to the head. A hellhound clawed at his back and he screamed in pain. He turned around and beheaded the hellhound before backing up.

"Lend me your strength," Percy whispered to himself. The sword blade got outline with crimson red light. Percy stood up, glaring at the three remaining monsters. The sword morphed into a double edged sword, with a chain running in the middle from the hilt to the tip. Percy cracked the sword like a whip, and it turned into one. A series of small blades chained all the way to the hilt with a reach that doubles it's original length.

He lashed the whip blade at one enemy. The blade wrapped itself around its neck and Percy yanked it apart, decapitating it. He spun around and lashed the blade outwards, stabbing one enemy in the gut before retracting the whip and pulled the enemy close to him. The blade retracted and turned into a normal sword as Percy swung his sword at its head.

Percy cracked his sword again, turning it into a whip. He whipped the abdomen of the last monster, the blade wrapped itself around the torso and Percy ripped it apart. After everything was done, the blade morphed back to its original form.

After that, Percy felt weak as his strength disappeared instantly. He started coughing violently until blood sputtered out.

"That was good workout," Jason grinned. "You okay there?" He turned around, panic went into him instantly. "Percy, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Percy managed.

"Oh gods, you're bleeding."

"Really?" Percy coughed. "What gave it away?"

"Hang tight. Reyna's going to be here in a few minutes."

Too late. Percy passed out.

That's the price of using the Sword of Blood. Giving his own blood to gain more power. That's why Percy only used it when necessary.

But for that occasion, he just wanted to show off to Jason.

**Line Break**

"Chiron, I need to talk to you," Annabeth said after having lunch.

"What is it, my dear?"

She fished out the picture he grabbed from Poseidon's cabin and showed it to Chiron. "Do you know who that is?"

Chiron was in his wheelchair form, sitting at the porch of the Big House. "Isn't this you?"

"I know, but who is that next to me?"

Chiron studied the picture closely. "I'm afraid I don't know. Is he someone close?"

Annabeth took the picture back. "I-I don't know. I mean, we look close, but I don't know him at all. Even if I did, I don't remember him, which is impossible. I thought you might have an idea since he had the camp shirt on."

"I remember the names of every single demigod that had entered this camp. I don't know if I'm getting old or I just don't know him,"

Annabeth just smiled. "Thank you, Chiron."

"I'm sorry I can't be of any help,"

"No, it's okay. I was just curious, that's all." Annabeth then walked away. But not before Piper called her.

"Hey Annie!"

Annabeth grumbled. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that,"

Piper gave her a sideways smile. "Sorry, but your name is just too long," Piper said. "Anyway, I'm going to Camp Jupiter. You wanna go?"

"What for?"

"Reyna found something under the Little Tiber," Piper said. "She wanted us to take a look at it because they couldn't find anything in their archives. She thought maybe you'd know what it was."

Annabeth eyed her warily. "Something tells me that this isn't an offer,"

Piper laughed. "Well, I figured I asked you nicely before resorting to charmspeak,"

"You're annoying," Annabeth said. "But yeah, I'll go with you,"

"Nice. I'll get Leo. We're gonna hitch a ride on Festus,"

On the span of a year, Leo had turned the Argo II into a dragon again, which was Festus's original form. The first time Annabeth saw it, it almost bit her head off. But not, Festus was rather fond of Annabeth. Leo blamed the biting part on Buford, who sabotaged him.

**Line Break**

Percy woke up on a bed but he was facing down. How had he breathe through the pillow, he had no idea. His back was stinging with pain and his arms felt numb.

He groaned as he tried to stand up, but a voice said. "Easy," Percy recognized it to be Jason's voice. "You're hurt pretty bad,"

"Not the first time," Percy grunted. Slowly and with difficulty, he managed to sit up. The pain on his back had lessened a little. "Thanks for the help,"

Jason grinned. "No problem. But your weapon is awesome though," Jason nudged at Percy's sword that was leaning against the wall. "I didn't know it could change into a whip. Maybe a gift of Vulcan?"

"Maybe," Percy lied. Technically, it was made by Hephaestus, not his Roman counterpart. And it wasn't really a gift. He just found it lying around.

Well, lying around in a hidden place, but no one had it so finders keepers.

"You feeling okay?"

"I've felt better," Percy admitted.

"I'll call for the healers soon. You gotta get some rest,"

Percy shook his head. "I've had worse than this,"

"There's no need to act so tough, you know?"

Percy just waved his comment off and stood up shakily. He took his sword and transformed it into a cane again, using it to support himself as he walked. "Lead me outside,"

"Whatever you say, tough guy," Jason said.

He led Percy out of the _Principia_, into the pathway known as the _via Principalis_. Roman demigods, legacies and Lares were walking about. Some fauns asked Percy for a spare change, but Jason chased him away.

"I'll take you to Reyna. She's the praetor here and gets to decide things."

Great, Percy thought. He can't lie to her thanks to her dogs, Aurum and Argentum, who could sniff out liars like a bloodhound.

"You know what, I think I'm just gonna go. I have somewhere else I have to be."

Jason looked at him weirdly. "And where might that be?"

"That's none of your business," Percy said. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"Just wait a-" Jason never finished his sentence. A dragon landed just in front of them. Jason recognized it, but Percy instantly went for his sword. "Calm down, it's just a friend of mine,"

"You have a dragon as a friend?"

"No, my friend owns the dragon," Jason said. It was true. The dragon wasn't actually a dragon, but an automaton. On top of it were three people. All three of which Percy recognized.

At the driving wheel, was Leo Valdez. Sitting in the middle was Jason's girlfriend, Piper McLean. And at the back seat . . .

Oh no . . .

Even without seeing her face, Percy know that blonde hair all too well. When she turned around, his heart skipped a beat.

It was her. It was really her.

Annabeth Chase.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Question time! **

**JustCurios: Take into account the fact that gods can look like whatever they want, so looking similar doesn't really mean anything. **

**Fangirl101: *wink**

**Apex Blitz: Glad you enjoyed! **

**Now, onwards! **

**Chapter 4**

The encounter made Percy speechless. "Hey there, Leo," Jason said.

"Good seeing you," Leo fist-bumped Jason. "Who's your friend?" Leo nudged at Percy. Piper went towards Jason and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, while Annabeth stood there just staring at him.

Percy knew every single one of them, and yet none of them knew Percy.

"Nice meeting you," Piper said, shaking Percy's hand without hesitating. He had to be careful around her. Piper's charmspeak is dangerous. "I'm Piper McLean. The scrawny one over there is Leo, son of Hephaestus,"

"Love you too, Pipes," Leo grumbled.

"And that one is-"

"Annabeth," Annabeth stepped forward so that they were face to face. "Annabeth Chase,"

"N-Nice to meet you guys," Percy said. This wasn't going well. He had a mission to complete and this is going to delay him.

Annabeth studied him from head to toe. She had a knack for doing that and in addition to her unnerving stormy gray eyes, it was enough to make anyone nervous. "Have we met before?"

"No," Percy said calmly. "I don't think we have."

It was obvious that Annabeth wasn't buying it. "Uh, Annabeth? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Annabeth said reluctantly. "His face just seems familiar,"

"I get that a lot," Percy said. He pulled his hood down, the shadow covering half of his face. "Unfortunately, we haven't met before. I'm Percy Jackson,"

"Nice knowing you," Piper said. "So, who's child are you?"

Percy had the urge to speak up and reveal that he's the son of Poseidon, but he held himself back. Her charmspeak was really hard to resist. "I'll be going now," Percy said, not wanting to spend another minute here. Seeing Annabeth is difficult enough. Getting away from her would be harder. "Wait!" Annabeth said.

"No time," Percy said before running off, but the wound on his back stung, halting his movement. "Fuck,"

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked again.

Percy took a deep breath before answering, "No one," In front of them, Percy seemed to vanish in a blur.

"What the hell, where is he?" Leo asked.

"He's fast," Jason muttered. "What a strange person,"

Annabeth stared at the empty space where he had been. There was no mistake. His name even confirmed it. He was the one who Thalia met and was the same one in the picture with Annabeth. So they were both the same person.

Percy Jackson . . . Annabeth had a feeling she'll see him again very soon.

**Line Break**

Sometimes, he was glad with the existence of these relics.

What Percy had done to get away was simply jump. It was another relic he had, the Feet of Zephyros. It sounds like a shoe brand. It allows the wearer to travel as quick as the wind without making any sounds. Handy for stealth or a quick getaway.

But it comes with a quick catch. It drains just as much energy as the activity you're doing. So for instance, if you ran with those shoes for a hundred miles in just five seconds, all the energy you should've used for that run will come straight at you after you've finished using it. So you could run faster than any man alive, but once you're finished with them your legs will feel like jelly.

And just in case you're wondering, the relic are actually sneakers. And apparently, Zephyros liked Nike.

Now, Percy was on top of Mount Tamalpais near the ruins of what used to be Kronos's HQ. "Huh, doesn't look like that anything's here,"

_Search in deeper_, Gaia said in his head.

The place was no more than a few standing stone pillars and an empty dais where Kronos's coffin used to be. Percy remembered the moment. Luke rising as Kronos and Rachel's epic moment of throwing a blue hairbrush straight into his eye.

The thought of Rachel made him remember his dream on the words kept ringing in his ears.

_Don't trust her_.

Who does she mean? Percy decided to put that thought aside before going into the crumbled ruins. His back still hurts, but he's had worse.

"Let's start searching then,"

**Line Break**

The loud helicopter noise almost drown out her own thoughts, which would've been fine with Rachel, if only her thoughts would die down that easily.

She was on her father's helicopter, waiting anxiously for their arrival at San Francisco. The last time Rachel tried to reach for him in his dream, she had barely enough time to track him all the way to the West Coast. Since there was nothing of demigod relevance anywhere but Camp Jupiter, that's where Rachel's going.

Percy was so stupid. He must've done something because everyone seems to forget about him. He'd asked Tyson, who happened to be Percy's half-brother, whether he knew where Percy was. Tyson just looked at her and said, "Is that a peanut brand?"

Rachel, Tyson and his harpy girlfriend, Ella, were in the middle of deciphering what they could from the Sibylline Books that Ella had memorized.

That's when the Delphi thought it would be funny to possess her. From what Tyson told her, the prophecy sounded something like this.

_"The forgotten sea shall rise again,  
To lead the world towards its end,  
The earth and sea going through every trial,  
An alliance to end only in betrayal,  
Deceived by one that he most trust,  
Ending a bond in a single thrust,  
Tyson likes peanut butter_

Rachel figured the last bit was added by Tyson himself, but then again, the Delphi is weird. At least she didn't tell Rachel to have a nice day.

Then the memory came into Rachel all at once like a flood. Before, she remembered every event, but it was kind of a blur. She knew she'd been introduced to the demigod world somehow, but she couldn't quite remember. She knew that they won the Titan War, but she couldn't remember how. She knew she'd feelings for someone, but she didn't remember who.

After the Delphi left her, it came in all at once. Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. Maybe because the Delphi remembered him, or maybe something triggered the memory. Anyway, she remembered him, but none of her friends does. She'd tried asking Grover about it, no such luck. He wasn't even familiar with the name. She asked Chiron, but Chiron just gave her the same answer, but he told her that Annabeth had mentioned the same name.

Then, Rachel made an interesting discovery after trying to decipher the prophecy herself (which is bad, by the way. Hera tried to decipher the Prophecy of Seven by herself and look what happened). The forgotten sea, could simply mean Percy. And the second one was basically self-explanatory. It meant Percy was going to destroy the world.

Heard that before.

Then, the third line made Rachel think. They earth would mean Gaia herself. At first she threw the idea away, because Gaia had been defeated. But no one really saw how. Rachel hadn't been there when it happened, but they just claimed Gaia had lost. Maybe Gaia and Percy had something going on. It was too disturbing to think about.

The last three lines worried Rachel the most. If Percy really is the one in the prophecy, then he's going to break. His fatal flaw is loyalty. For friends, he would give up the world. But if some sort of betrayal happens with Percy being involved . . . Rachel didn't want to think about it. If he snaps, then the world really is going to be destroyed, especially if he and Gaia are working together.

For the past few days, Rachel tried to reach Percy. She'd tried Iris Messaging, but Iris claimed that she couldn't broadcast a message if she didn't know who it's for, which was bullshit. He tried calling his mother, but as she thought, she'd forgotten about her beloved son too. Then, she tried to catch him in his dream.

When she managed to get a hold of him, he wasn't alone. Someone, or something, is preventing her from reaching him. Like some sort of bodyguard to prevent anyone from mentally entering his head, giving him weird thoughts. That's why her little conversation in Percy's dream was cut short.

Now, the only person who has all the answer is Percy himself. She really didn't want to go alone to meet him, but with no one remembering him, she really is on her own.

What Rachel didn't understand was why all of them, including Annabeth who Percy can't seem to go a day through without thinking about, forgot about him,

"Hang on Percy, I'm coming." Rachel muttered to herself.

That's when the tail of the helicopter exploded and they spiralled towards the ground.

**Line Break**

Percy found the hourglass right on top of Kronos's crumbled throne. That's the good news. The bad news? It was guarded.

By a manifestation of Kronos, if Percy had to guess. Just in case someone came snooping around looking for his personal belongings. The only thing that unnerved him was the fact the manifestation resembled Luke, the form Kronos took before he disintegrated. The only difference is he was made out of what looked like glass.

"I guess I'm gonna have to fight him," Percy muttered to himself. He was a bit rusty against a powerful adversary, but he's going to give it his best shot.

And he hoped the wound on his back wouldn't hurt.

"So, old buddy," Percy took his sword out. "Just like old times?"

Glass Kronos said nothing but took out a familiar weapon, Backbiter. Two metal, mortal steel and Celestial Bronze, forged into one sword. Again, it looked like it was made out of glass. He dashed forward first, wanting to land the first strike. As he cleaved downwards, Percy sidestepped and kicked Kronos right on the chin, sending him a few meters back.

Okay, maybe he's not made out of glass because that kick hurts Percy's leg. Maybe crystal? Either way, he wasn't going to be easily shattered.

Kronos regained composure fast as he ran towards Percy again, his sword at the ready. They crossed swords as sparks flew around them, their swords turned into a blur with combat so fast that normal eyes couldn't keep up.

It had been a while since Percy faced an adversary like this, so he couldn't help but grin. Percy was going to stab him, but spun out of way and sliced at his already wounded back. Percy growled in pain and he collapsed to his knees. Percy rolled away just in time as Backbiter cleaved the ground where he'd been a few seconds earlier.

His sword was out of reach. He had no way to defend himself. Kronos raised his sword, marching forward aiming at him. He slashed downwards at him. Percy caught the blade in his left hand, making it bleed in the process. The edges of the blades sliced through his skin, sending stinging pain down his arm.

Even though it was only a manifestation of Kronos, it was still strong. Percy had the disadvantage as Kronos put all his weigh on the blade, making his hand hurt even more. Percy screamed in pain. In desperation, he tried kicking the glass figure in the chest, but no such luck. The blade was keeping him from moving.

Kronos kept pressing the sword on to him, this time even stronger. He was sure that his hand would be cut in half if this goes on. Percy was trying his best to push the sword away, but his hand was in so much pain.

Percy was blacking out. Yellow spots were dancing in his eyes, his consciousness fading away.

_This is it, _Percy muttered in his head.

**Line Break**

Artemis was fuming and her hunters knew to keep their distance. After the meeting, Artemis left Olympus even more annoyed than ever.

Never before, a mortal, a male mortal at that, had embarrassed her like that. Her pride was wounded.

Thalia had tried talking to her, but her glare might've sent her away.

Now, the Hunt had a new mission, one she wasn't too pleased with. They're gonna have to move to San Francisco. Apparently, something is troubling her father there. So it's her job to find out what it is.

Looking on the bright side, she was thinking about recruiting a few more maidens to join her hunt. Right now, she's in desperate need of members. While there are no shortage of female warriors who're capable in a fight, it's hard to find women who are loyal and worthy of her hunt.

She's searching for warriors who are not afraid in battle and will be strong enough to stay loyal to their oath in swearing off men.

In this age, those characteristics are hard to find in a woman.

"Milady," Thalia called her. She was in her tent, trying to calm her thoughts. "We're ready to move,"

She took a deep breath. "I'll be out in a minute,"

Thalia was quiet, but Artemis could still sense her outside. "Are you okay?" She finally said.

Was she? Even Artemis wasn't sure. Is she annoyed? Yes. But is she okay? Dunno.

"Sure," She said. "Just give me a sec."

After packing up, they were on the move. Thalia caught up to her. "You think we're going to run into him again?"

That struck a chord, but she kept her cool. "Run into who?"

"Percy Jackson,"

She felt her eye twitch. "If we do, I'm gonna run him over with my foot,"

They were silent for a few minutes before Thalia spoke up again. "This is gonna sound so weird,"

"What is?"

"I don't know who else to talk about this," Thalia took out something from her pocket. It was a picture. Artemis scanned it before going into a shock.

"This is you, isn't it? And the Athena girl?"

"Annabeth," Thalia sighed. But they weren't the only two in the picture. Standing in the middle of the two was Percy Jackson, her hand slung over both of their shoulders and he looked extremely happy with his lopsided grin. It was like the complete opposite of the Percy Jackson they'd seen a few nights ago where he's all serious and dark.

"You know him?"

Thalia shook her head. "That's the problem. I've got a few pictures of him. From the looks of it, the both of us were close friends. And Annabeth is close with him as well. But Annabeth visited me and asked about him as well. It didn't appear as though she remembers him. Neither do I."

Artemis frowned. "Are you sure it's not just a long time friend you've forgotten about?"

Again, Thalia shook her head. "It's recent. At least about a year or two years ago. If it's that recent, I wouldn't have forgotten him,"

That was weird. Artemis had never heard of a case like this. If she had no memories of him, it would mean that she'd somehow come in contact with the River Lethe. But that was ridiculous. Thalia had only been near the River Lethe once, when she was on a mission for Persephone and she'd never come in contact with the river. Well, you wouldn't even remember the river if you touched its waters.

Second, even if she'd come in contact with the Lethe, it wouldn't just wipe the memory of just one specific individual. It would wipe out Thalia's entire life. She wouldn't remember her name or anything about herself. The Lethe was that strong.

So, there are three possibilities. Whether it's the work of Hecate, who has magic to wipe out specific memory, or Mnemosyne, the Titaness of Memory herself.

Or a stronger power that has a sick sense of humour.

Either way, she would have to worry about it later. Right now, they have to reach San Francisco. Artemis had a bad feeling that it's going to be a long journey.

**Line Break**

This was going to be the end for Percy. He's going to die against a manifestation of Kronos, which was stupid considering he'd beaten the real thing.

But to his defense, his back was wounded.

Percy was in the brink of unconsciousness when it happened.

A single silver arrow sprouted from Kronos's chest. He staggered backwards, giving Percy chance to breathe. His left hand felt like it had been dipped in fire. Each movement sent a jolting pain straight up his arm.

Percy looked up to see who his savior was.

She stood there, in her silver parka and circlet that resembled a Persian princess, with her bow aimed straight at Kronos. She was just as beautiful and deadly the last time Percy saw her, which was her dying moment, but she looked very much alive.

She leaped forward gracefully, her hunting knives drawn. She kicked Glass Kronos on the chest, sending it toppling backwards. Kronos quickly grabbed his sword and struck at her, but she blocked the strike with one of her hunting knives and stabbed him with the other.

She pushed Kronos away before firing another arrow at the head, shattering the figure into a pile of dust.

She turned around at Percy, smirking at him. "It looks like you have lost your touch, Perseus Jackson,"

In all the pain he' going through, he managed a painful laugh. "Funny seeing you here, Zoe,"

**A/N: Boom and mic drop. Well, not really. I know some of you guys probably saw this coming. **


	5. Chapter 5 (fixed)

**A/N: Some theorizing have ensued. Interesting. Question time!**

**Edit: Sorry bout that. This is what happens when you post without looking ffs. It's fixed now. **

**SovereignAstra: Like you said, "someone with enough power", which is no one in the Greek and Roman pantheon. But I should've explained it better I guess.**

**Curious Beats: Thanks for the support!**

**timbo8: Interesting interpretation… No spoilers but… Nope:)**

**Percyreader: I know, right? Can't believe it either.**

**dTasada07: I guess you're just gonna have to wait and see.**

**Now, onwards!**

**Chapter 5**

After retrieving the hourglass, they made a makeshift camp just outside the Garden of Hesperides. Percy caught a whiff of mint from the eucalyptus trees inside the garden. A tree shined dimly in gold thanks to the Golden Apples.

They sat near a bonfire, the fire crackling quietly in the dark. Percy's hand was sore, but at least the bleeding had stopped. If he could find water, this would heal instantly. But unfortunately, he'd have to wait.

"Here, let me help," Zoe offered. Percy held out his hand. Zoe took out a roll of bandage and a flask of nectar. She poured nectar over the wound, which made Percy wince, then wrapped his hand neatly with bandage. It felt better.

"Thanks," Percy said. He was a bit nervous, since he was there when Zoe had died and put near the stars. Seeing her here was . . . weird. But after what happened a year ago, seeing dead people didn't surprise him.

"I guess I should explain," Zoe said, poking the fire with her hunting knife. The tip glowed bright red.

"Where's the middle age English accent you spoke?" Percy asked.

"Elysium has a lot of modern day dead people," Zoe smiled. "It's not hard to learn."

"Elysium . . ." Percy said it out loud like a distant thought. "I'm guessing you went through the Doors of Death, like every other mortal that came back alive,"

Zoe nodded. "I just passed by, as if I was a ghost. No one saw me. I was guided there by someone, took the elevators up and went back to the living side. Then I stayed in my home, the Garden of Hesperides. That is until you showed up."

If Gaia had anything to do with it, she didn't say anything.

"Well, it's great to have you back," Percy said. "And, um, sorry about what happened to you before,"

Zoe frowned. "What do you mean?"

Percy got nervous. "You know, about you dying and stuff," It got silent for a few minutes. Her eyes seemed so far away, just gazing into the fire.

"It's not your fault," Zoe said finally after a brief of silence. "I fell in combat serving Lady Artemis. There's no better way to go,"

"I could argue with that," Percy shrugged.

"Anyway, what's your story?" Zoe asked. As soon as she asked that, Percy flinched. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, no," Percy said. He was in a dilemma. Should he tell her? It's not like anyone knew she's alive. Even if she told everyone, no one would remember him.

You can tell her if you want, Gaia said in his head. That was weird, since Gaia had told him not to tell anyone about this. But hey, if Gaia herself gave him the green light, then it was fine by Percy. He needed someone to talk to as well.

"I'm gonna tell you my story," Percy said. "But you have to promise that no one can know,"

Zoe frowned again. "Why?"

"Because of two reasons. One, no one would believe you anyway and two, it's safer for our friends." Percy fixed her with a steely stare. "And I mean no one, can know. Not even Artemis,"

Zoe wasn't sure if he was lying or he was telling the truth. But she sensed that something had changed within the boy. Whether it's good or bad, she wasn't sure.

"I promise."

Percy's expression softened. "After we defeated Kronos, a new prophecy had been issued,"

Zoe nodded. "I know all about that. The war with Gaia and everything."

Percy grimaced. Percy wasn't going to tell her the whole thing. "A few seconds before I beat Gaia, time froze. She warned me that something else is coming. Something bigger than her,"

"Gaia warned you?"

Percy nodded. "She needed my help in collecting these relics-" Percy gestured at the hourglass. "-that used to belong to powerful beings. We're going to need them to face whatever that's coming our way. She wanted me to find them, but under one condition,"

"Which is?"

Percy took a deep breath before answering. "No one can come with me. Everyone will forget about me. Everything about me will be a clean slate. No one will remember me but me,"

And me, Perseus. Gaia added.

Zoe's eyes widened in surprise. She understood about not wanting to endanger his friends or keep a low profile, but that can't be easy even for someone as tough as Percy.

He had achieved what most demigods only dreamed of achieving. No one had come close to being as strong as Percy. And what was his reward?

To be forgotten, unrecognized even by the ones he loved, only to be put in front of another dangerous task. Zoe could see the burden he bears, weighing heavily on his shoulders. Zoe felt bad for him. Living dangerously was normal in the life of a demigod. To face danger all the time was normal. But sometimes, she wondered if Percy has had enough. From the stories she heard in Elysium, Percy hadn't catch a break since he found out he was a demigod when he was twelve.

After the fight with Kronos was done, he had only a little break before Hera sent him off to Camp Jupiter, where he was in queue to face another dangerous opponent, Gaia herself.

And even then, it wasn't enough. After going through a month-long process to beat Gaia, Percy was now facing something bigger than Gaia.

If this keeps going, he's going to snap. A man's patience can only go for so long.

"I'm sorry," Zoe said.

"For what?"

"I guess I just feel bad for you," Zoe said. "After all you've been through, it just doesn't seem fair,"

Percy managed a sad smile. "No, it's not fair. But what can you do? We can only plan. Only the Fates decide what happens and what not."

"You are a philosopher, Percy Jackson,"

"And you are warming up to me," Percy grinned. "Has your man-hating spirit faded, Zoe?"

"Don't tempt me, Jackson," Zoe glared at him.

Percy laughed and held his hands up in surrender. "Not going to. If you don't mind, I'm going to sleep first. I just had a fight with a manifestation of the Titan Lord and I'm tired."

Zoe grinned. "You managed to beat the Titan Lord single-handedly, and you almost lost to his manifestation? Someone's getting rusty,"

Percy groaned. "Don't remind me. Goodnight Zoe. I trust you won't kill me in my sleep,"

"Why would I do that?"

"Maybe you would get annoyed if I snore too loudly,"

"I'll just gag you," Zoe shrugged. "Now sleep,"

**Line Break**

Next morning, Percy woke up, feeling better than last night. His back and left hand was still sore, but he's had worse. He looked around and found that Zoe had disappeared, leaving nothing but a patch of burnt grass from where they'd set up campfire last night.

Percy groaned as he sat up. He was worried for Zoe, but not that worried. She's a Hunter and she could take care of herself. Besides, the Garden of Heperides is just around the corner. Percy stood up and studied at the hourglass he'd retrieved.

"So, this belongs to your son before?" Percy asked.

Yes. This is how he manipulates time. Gaia said. But after you've defeated him, he had no further use for it. There was a little bit of resentment in her tone, but Percy decided not to dwell on it.

"Well, time to head back," Percy said. "Oh yeah, do you have any idea where Zoe went?"

There was no answer from her. It was hard to communicate with Gaia. Well, being asleep would make it hard to talk.

"Who are you talking to?" A voice said behind him. He turned around to see Zoe grinning at him.

"Hey," Percy smiled. "Thought you left,"

"Well, for a moment I was planning to. Then I decided something,"

"What is it?"

"I'm going to follow you,"

Percy stared at her for probably a few seconds before he blurted out, "What?"

Zoe shrugged. "You need help in your quest. Clearly you're not as good as I remembered because you lost to a glass figure-"

"In my defense, I was already wounded,"

"-and besides, this 'something big' thing is coming and all of us, including your friends, are going to face it sooner or later. You're gonna need all the help you can get."

Percy stood there, not knowing what to say. That's when Gaia decided to speak up. It's your decision. If you want her to join you, then let her.

Percy thought about it. It had been rough lately, getting the relics by himself. Plus, the enemies he's facing is getting stronger by the day.

"Well, if you're okay with it,"

Zoe's smiled, before turning serious again. "But I am not spending my nights with you on the same bed."

Percy blushed. "What the hell, of course not!"

Zoe smiled again. "Then we're in agreement."

**Line Break**

The demigods from the prophecy gathered inside the Senate House, to talk about something. Leo Valdez was busy tinkering with parts of bolts and nuts from his toolbelt, Piper and Jason sat together side by side which made Reyna jealous.

Annabeth sat next to Reyna, studying everyone while Frank told Hazel stories about being a praetor.

"So, what did you want to ask me about?" Annabeth said. "Piper told me you found something under Little Tiber."

Reyna nodded grimly. After Frank became praetor, Reyna looked like she had a huge weight taken off of her shoulders. Which made sense since Camp Jupiter needed two praetors instead of one, and Reyna had been doing the job by herself.

Now with Frank by her side, along with Jason and Hazel, her job of leading Camp Jupiter is easier.

"I found two things under the Tiber. Here's one of them," Reyna took out a standard ballpoint pen. Everyone stared at it in confusion.

"Um, it's a pen," Leo muttered.

Reyna rolled her eyes. She took the pen and pulled the cap off. Instantly, it turned into a bronze leaf-shaped sword. Everyone jumped a bit in surprise.

"Wow," Frank said. "That's a neat sword,"

"But it doesn't look . . . Roman," Hazel added. "Plus, I think it's made out of Celestial Bronze,"

Annabeth didn't know why, but the sword looked very familiar. Through her times studying combat, she'd seen plenty of weapons. Maybe she'd seen this one before?

"Yes, it's definitely Celestial Bronze," Annabeth said. "And that engraving in the hilt, what does it say?"

Reyna looked at it. "I don't speak Ancient Greek," She handed the sword to Annabeth. It was surprisingly well balanced. The hilt read, Anaklusmos. "Riptide," She muttered out loud.

"What?"

"The name of the sword," Annabeth said. "Riptide. How do you close it?"

Reyna tossed the pen cap at Annabeth. "Touch the cap to the tip of the sword." Reyna said. Annabeth did what she told her and instantly, the sword shrunk back to a ballpoint pen.

"Huh," Jason said. "It really is a nice weapon. But it seems easy to lose it."

Reyna shook her head. "Ever since I have it, no matter where I put it or throw it away, it always return to my pocket,"

"But what if it got stuck? Like for instance, if I duct tape it to the wall?" Leo asked. Reyna didn't answer. "Well, just checking,"

Annabeth put the pen down on the table. "Anyway, you said there were two things?"

Reyna nodded. This time, she took out something small. It looked like some kind of coin, only slightly bigger. It was gold, which reminded Annabeth of Kronos for some odd reason. Reyna slid the coin to Annabeth. "Be careful with it."

Annabeth picked it up. "It's a coin," There was no engraving on it except for an apple one side and the moon on the other. "But I can't say I recognize this. It's not like a drachma,"

"That's what I wanted you to check out," Reyna said. "I tried to find out what it is, since it's not of any Roman currency that I know,"

Annabeth slid the coin to Jason, who picked it up and studied it. "Well, maybe it's from a more modern time?"

Reyna shook her head. "I tried looking into that also, but- Jason, don't!"

Annabeth had just enough time to see Jason flick the coin up with his thumb, the way he usually does with his golden coin.

Instead of turning into a sword, Jason flew out of his seat and spun three sixty vertically in midair before smashing onto a table, as if someone had just judo-flipped him. Everyone backed off in surprise.

"What the hell . . ." Jason muttered in pain.

"Um, what just happened?" Hazel asked.

"The coin," Reyna said cautiously. "One of our Roman officers tried that and got spun in midair."

"Cool! My turn!" Leo grinned.

"No, not cool." Frank said. "A Roman officer got injured from this."

Annabeth saw the coin right next to Jason. She picked it up gingerly, as if it was a stick of dynamite. Annabeth studied the coin more carefully. On one side was an apple, then the other was the moon.

"Maybe Artemis or Diana knows anything about this," Annabeth said. "Because there's a moon engraving,"

"I thought of that too, but the apple just threw me off," Reyna said.

"Maybe they're related," Piper said, helping Jason to stand up.

An apple and the moon. What do they have in common? Annabeth studied the coin even more, then a thought formed in her head.

Annabeth held the coin above her thumb and index finger, like she was going to flip it. Then, she flipped it upside down. What happened was really weird.

It was like some had turned the room upside down. Annabeth felt her blood rising up to her head as she went straight to the roof of the Senate House. She landed with a loud thud and yelped in pain.

"Annabeth!" Reyna shouted out her name. None of them had moved, except for Annabeth who was pulled to the ceiling like metal to magnet.

Annabeth stood up shakily. She was upside down, but everything felt normal. She didn't feel like her head was going to explode or any motion sickness.

"Um, you're upside down," Leo pointed out.

It's not like her feet had suddenly gained the ability to stick to any surface. It was more like her center of gravity had changed.

"I think the coin controls gravity," Annabeth said. "Hold on, I'm going down."

"Annabeth-" Piper didn't finish her sentence as Annabeth flipped the coin upside down again. The same thing happened. It was like the room had been spun around instead of Annabeth. This time, Annabeth managed to land, sort of. She crashed onto the floor, but at least she braced for impact. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Annabeth said. "Yeah, this thing controls gravity." She put it carefully on the table. "For whoever that holds it, their center of gravity changes according to the coin."

"That," Piper muttered. "is scary,"

"Was there even such a thing as this before? If there's a magic item like this, surely I've heard of it," Reyna said.

"Same here." Annabeth said. "I don't remember any gravity controlling items. Heck, I don't know if there is a god for gravity in the Greek pantheon,"

"Well, we can't risk having it around," Reyna said. "Anyone want to keep it?"

Leo's hand went up instantly.

"Um, no," Hazel said. "Don't we have a vault?"

Reyna nodded. "I'll store it in the vault then. Any objections?" No one said anything except for Leo who groaned. "Then I'll-"

"Reyna!" A Roman burst into the room. "Lady Diana is coming,"

"Diana?" Leo frowned. "Is she hot?"

Hazel smacked him on the arm. "He's talking about the Goddess of the Moon, but in her Roman aspect,"

Leo shrunk in his seat while Annabeth just smiled as she shook her head. Well, at least she gets to see Thalia again.

**Line Break**

There's good news and bad news with Diana coming to Camp Jupiter.

The good news is that Thalia is coming and they would be honored with the goddess' visit.

The bad news, she didn't come alone with her hunters. She brought an army of hostile Cyclopes with her, which was strange. But Annabeth guessed that after a tiring fight against Gaia and dealing with their schizophrenia before, the gods don't have much energy.

Even the Hunters didn't look too good. Their numbers had been diminished than when Annabeth last saw them.

"Shit," Hazel muttered as they watch the Hunters and Diana herself defend themselves at the Field of Mars, against an army of Cyclopes.

"Sound the alarm!" Frank shouted. He transformed into a dragon and gestured them to climb on to join the battle.

They climbed on as Frank flew down, breathing out a pillar of flames. Unfortunately, Annabeth knew better. Cyclopes were fireproof, so fire did nothing to them.

"They're fireproof," Annabeth supplied. Frank made what sounded like a grunt before dropping them off at the Hunters.

Lady Diana didn't look very surprised as she fired arrow after arrow along with her hunters. Annabeth spotted Thalia next to her. When she saw Annabeth, she gave her a grin before turning back towards the enemy.

"Glad you could help!" Thalia said. They fought side by side against the Cyclopes, who didn't seem like much, but their size and strength made it harder.

This was going to be a long fight.

**Line Break**

After what seemed like forever, the whole Roman army came and charged, which made their job a whole lot easier.

Frank turned into a gorilla and started to bash into the skulls of the Cyclopes. He tried giving orders to the Roman legion, but he didn't realize he was still a gorilla, so it came out like, "Augh! Ogh Gah!"

Luckily, Reyna was there. "Form ranks!" She shouted. A dozen of Roman legionnaires stood in line in front of them with their shield locked in. "Advance!"

Annabeth had always admired how organized the Roman military was. In their camp, the only time the campers had been organized was when Connor led the toilet paper raid.

Jason flew and decapitated anything that stood tall enough while Piper did her best with Hazel in swordfighting.

Leo tried shooting flames, but since he didn't hear Annabeth's little tip, he was surprised that it didn't work.

Annabeth had her sword made out of drakon skin that . . . Annabeth didn't remember how she had the thing. She weaved her way through the legs of a Cyclops and stabbed it behind the knee. The Cyclops tumbled before Thalia finished it off with an arrow through the head.

She didn't know how much of them were left, but it didn't look good.

"Everyone close your eyes!" Annabeth heard Diana yelled. She immediately knew what was going to happen.

As Diana revealed her true form, every single Cyclopes disintegrated. Hopefully, none of the demigods shared the same fate.

Annabeth figured it must've not been good for Diana. Her godly energy had been diminished enough before using her true form.

She scanned the battlefield. There was nothing left of the enemy except for dust and some wooden clubs. She sighed in relief.

"Glad that's over," Thalia said next to her. Annabeth agreed. "Hey, there's something I want to talk about right after this."

"What's it about?"

"It's about the Percy Jackson guy,"

Line Break

From a far hill, overlooking the entirety of Camp Jupiter, was Percy Jackson along with his new companion, Zoe Nightshade. They had observed the battle and strained themselves from interfering.

"So you're telling me you won't help her?" Zoe asked.

"I would if I have to, but it's okay. She has Jason and the rest behind her. Besides, your mistress is among them. I doubt anything will go wrong,"

Zoe didn't look pleased with their decision, watching her sisters fight from afar. Yet, no one knew she was alive. It's probably better that way.

"So, our next relic is there?" Percy asked Gaia.

Yes, Gaia muttered. It's a coin, used by Issac Newton.

"Issac Newton huh? He's a demigod?"

"Issac Newton was a child of Athena," Zoe supplied. "I had met him once. Brilliant man, but ignorant as well."

Percy decides to ignore that last part. "So, what does it do?"

Anyone who holds it can control his own center of gravity at will. Gaia explained. Right now, it's among them.

"So Issac Newton, the guy who discovered gravity, had once possess a coin that can control gravity?" Percy sighed. "The Greek world is weird,"

Zoe snorted. "You've just realized this now? You've got a lot to learn."

"I guess," Percy stretched his back, which was a mistake since it was still wounded. "That was stupid. Let's get us a magical coin,"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry bout the last chapter. It got broken. But hey, at least it****'s fixed. No time for questions. We move forward!**

**Chapter 6**

After what felt like forever, they'd managed to defeat the Cyclopes army that was heading towards Camp Jupiter. Everyone was exhausted. Some of the campers suffered from injuries, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

The only person who didn't look tired was Diana. Though that's because she didn't want to look weak in front of mortals. She's trying to hide it, but Thalia could see that the goddess was near her limit.

Thalia had never seen a god get tired before, but there's always a first for everything.

After the battle, the Hunters set up camp near Field of Mars where they needed a well earned rest. Thalia wasn't feeling too tired so she went out to see her friends.

As she walked away from the campsite, she spotted Jason walking towards her.

"Hey sis," Jason greeted her with a smile.

Thalia smiled back and pulled him into a hug. "Hey," She said. "Glad to see you're safe."

"Yeah, you too." Jason sighed. "I heard you've been busy."

"More or less," Thalia shrugged. "Anyway, where's Annabeth?"

"She's at the dining hall with Reyna. I was just about to inform you girls to join us for dinner."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You know damn well Artemis will turn any male that comes close to her Hunters into a shrub."

Jason gulped. "Good point."

Thalia chuckled. "You don't have to worry about the Hunters. They have their own way of dinner. Me, on the other hand, will join you."

The siblings then walked towards the Camp Jupiter dining hall as they chatted about their adventures until Thalia brought up a familiar name.

"Hey, do you know of anyone named Percy Jackson?" Thalia asked.

"Well," He said. "Yesterday, I think I met him."

"Where?"

"On my way here from Long Island," Jason explained. "We were in the same flight. The plane was about to be hijacked and he stopped the hijackers. Then when we landed, I found out that he was a demigod and we got attacked by a bunch of monsters." Jason shook his head. "He's one skilled swordsman, I'll give him that."

"Yeah," Thalia agreed. "The Hunters and I met him more or less under the same circumstances." Thalia explained her encounter with Percy. Then, she showed Jason a picture of Percy, Annabeth and Thalia together. "I had that with me for some reason."

Jason studied the picture. "Yep, that's Percy." Jason said. "You know him?"

Thalia shrugged. "Complete stranger. But somehow he feels like a lost relative. You know what I mean?"

"Maybe you just missed me?"

"Shut up."

**Line Break**

By dusk, Percy and Zoe had successfully gotten past the guards patrolling Camp Jupiter. While Zoe insists that it's better to knock the guards out for a quick getaway, Percy thought it might raise some suspicion.

"You know nothing of stealth," Zoe grumbled. "If things go wrong, it'll be easier for us to make a run for it."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You're still on that subject? We got past them, right? So what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you don't know how to plan stuff,"

"And you don't know how to stay quiet," Percy glared at her.

Zoe looked appalled. "How dare you?! I was a Hunter of Artemis before you were even-" Percy quickly put a hand over her mouth as they ducked down behind a couple of wooden crates. A Roman guard walked past them as they hid.

"Be quiet!" Percy whispered angrily.

Zoe pushed Percy's hand away from her mouth. "You touch me again, I'll shove that hand right up your rectum." She growled.

Percy just rolled his eyes as he peeked around the crate. "If they'd found the coin, it's probably going to be either in their vault or with Annabeth."

"Romans," Zoe muttered in displeasure. "Only thing good about them are their bathhouses." She then looked further in front of them. "I see the vault."

"How do you know that that's the vault?"

"Because it looks like a prison," Zoe said. "And because I can understand Latin and the sign on the road says 'vault'."

Percy just rolled his eyes. He gestured Zoe to follow him as he checks if there's anyone around. Once the coast was clear, they moved towards the aforementioned building.

The building was probably newly built because Percy didn't remember it being there when he was in New Rome. It looked like it was designed to keep something out, a perfect place to store a magical relic. There were no windows and the only opening Percy could see from the brick walls surrounding the building was a wooden door guarded by two muscular guards.

"This might be tricky." Percy muttered.

Zoe sighed. "I'll handle it," She said as she moved towards the door. Percy tried to stop her, but she was too quick.

As Zoe approached the building, the guards stopped her. Percy couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it ended pretty quickly as Zoe roundhouse kicked one of them straight at the temple and punched the throat of the other guard before hitting him at the back of his head.

Percy went over towards her. "What was that?"

"You really don't like Romans, do you?" Percy asked.

Zoe just shrugged as she went towards the door. "Any ideas on how to open it?" Percy walked over towards it and tried pushing the door but as soon as his hand touched the surface of the wooden door, the alarms went off and blared. "What did you do?" Zoe asked furiously.

"Nothing!" Percy exclaimed. Percy knew it would only be a matter of seconds before the guards get here, so stealth was no longer an option. He kicked the door down and rushed inside with Zoe on his tail.

"I guess this is a part of your plan as well?" Zoe said angrily.

"Shut up and look for the coin," Percy grumbled.

The inside of the building looked way bigger than the outside. The walls were made of what Percy figured was Imperial Gold. Along the walls and up all the way to the ceiling were small square lockers, each with their own padlock and keyhole. Judging from the size of the room alone, there were probably thousands of them.

"Great," Zoe muttered. "How are we supposed to find it?"

"Gaia, a little help?" Percy asked.

_The building is enchanted with magic, _Gaia said. _I cannot help you, Perseus._

Percy groaned in frustration as the alarms continued to blare loudly. "We're on our own." Percy said. "Gaia says this building is enchanted."

Zoe spat out a few curses in Ancient Greek. "Figure something out then."

Percy tried to brainstorm for a solution. He really wished Annabeth was here right now. She'll probably remember something that Percy doesn't that could help them.

You know that saying, 'careful what you wish for'?

Well, it's true.

"Stop it right there!" Percy heard a voice behind him shouted. Percy turned around to see Annabeth along with Reyna, Frank and Jason. They all had their weapons drawn and looked ready for a fight.

Percy was more nervous on talking with them rather than fight them. "Zoe, don't show your face." Percy looked at her to see that she had pulled her hooded silver parka over her head and had covered the bottom half of her face with a silver scarf, making her almost unrecognizable.

"Percy?" Jason asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you the one that we helped from the airport?" Reyna said in a tone with a slight bit of edge. "Since you helped Jason, I will be lenient and let you explain yourself before we kill you."

Percy's mind went into overdrive as he tries to create the best possible outcome to this scenario, preferably alive. The coin can wait for another day. There won't be anyone to retrieve it if both of them die here.

"I know this looks wrong," Percy explained calmly. "But it's really important that we get something from here."

"What might that be?" Reyna glared at Percy.

"I'm really not liking her." Zoe muttered in a low voice.

Percy ignored her. "An item. A coin, to be exact. It has special powers that-"

"You mean this?" Annabeth interrupted as she held up a gold coin, slightly bigger than a Drachma.

_That's it,_ Gaia spoke in Percy's head.

Percy nodded. "If you just hand me the coin, then we'll be on our way."

"It has interesting powers," Annabeth stated out. "But we know nothing of it. Just like you and your friend." She took out another item, one that's all too familiar with Percy.

She took out Riptide and uncapped it. Percy knew that metallic sound of Riptide as it turned into the sword that Poseidon had given him.

Percy had thrown it away because it the pen is like a homing beacon for every single mythological deities in existence, or so Gaia told him. He was reluctant, but he did threw it away. For some reason, the sword never returned to him like it used to when he'd used it.

And now, it's with Annabeth.

"Trust me, I'm doing you a favour here," Percy said calmly. "I just want the coin."

"I've seen you fight, Percy." Jason said. "And I assure you, it won't be enough to take on all of us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoe asked.

"You're gonna come with us," Frank supplied. "We want to ask you a few questions."

This was not going according to Percy's plan. Then, Zoe stepped right next to Percy. "On my signal, grab the coin."

"What?"

"Go!" Zoe said. Her usual silver hunting bow materialized in her hand along with a quiver of arrows slung across her back. She nocked an arrow and fired it straight towards Reyna.

Whether or not she was aiming for her on purpose, Percy didn't know. He decided to trust Zoe on this and ran as fast as he could towards Annabeth.

At the last minute, he did a baseball slide and did a scissor kick takedown on her legs. It was a move that Jason had taught him a while back.

As soon as Annabeth land flat on her back, Zoe's arrow exploded into a cloud of thick white smoke. Percy grabbed the coin and bolted towards the exit with Zoe right next to him.

"Get them!" He heard Reyna yelled, but Percy and Zoe were already on the move . . . towards an army of Romans.

Percy cursed because he didn't really want to fight them, but it didn't seem like they have much of a choice.

Percy took his sword out while Zoe drew her hunting knives. He tried to maim at the Romans instead of killing them because they were still friendlies.

Zoe didn't kill them, but she didn't maim either. It was more like she was trying to 'seriously injure' the Romans.

Percy deflected a javelin from the air and kicked a Roman on the head, knocking him out before he smacked the butt of his sword onto another Roman's skull.

"Duck!" Zoe shouted as Percy ducked and Zoe fired three arrows in succession over his head straight onto a Roman's thigh. Percy then turned around and managed to pull Zoe by the jacket from getting cleaved into two by an axe before she kicked the attacking Roman on the chin.

"Now we're even," Percy managed as he and Zoe continued to work together. They managed to fight their way towards the border of the camp where the Romans were hot on their tail.

"We need to shake them off," Zoe grumbled. "Any ideas?"

Percy winced. An arrow had hit him on the shoulder, but he'd been busy trying to survive to even notice. "I have one, but if it fails then we're screwed."

"If we don't do anything we're screwed anyway." Zoe replied.

There was really no other choice. "Hop on my back," Percy said.

"Uh, no way."

"Then I'm gonna go by myself," Percy growled.

"Fine!" Zoe reluctantly climbed on his back as Percy gave her a piggyback ride.

"If we get through with this, I might pass out. So be warned."

"What?"

"Also, hang tight and keep your head down." Percy said before using the Feet of Zephyros.

**Line Break**

Luckily, after that incident, no one got hurt. Well, there were some major injuries but at least there was no casualties.

Even so, they weren't happy with the outcome.

Romans were like an elite army, trained for combat since childhood. And they got outdone by two people.

Reyna was pacing back and forth in the Senate Room, where her friends were sitting nervously to discuss on what had just happened aside from Piper and Leo.

"So, did you guys find out about anything?" Hazel asked, trying to break the silence.

"We found out that he's an enemy of Rome," Reyna growled.

"Reyna, we can't be sure yet." Jason tried, but it was clear that her mind was set.

"What do you mean 'we can't be sure'?" Reyna threw her hands up in exasperation. "They had just broken into our vault, stole something of ours and had injured a battalion of Romans. Tell me that he's a friend of ours."

"Reyna does have a point," Frank said. "Even if they're not our enemies, they're sure not our friends."

"We need to find them," Reyna said. "They're going to pay for what they've done."

"Reyna, aren't you being a bit too reckless right now?" Jason tried to reason with her. "I mean, no one was killed and nothing was really stolen aside from a coin that we had just found and know nothing about."

"Why are you even defending him?" Reyna burst out. "You've known him for like two days!"

"It's not like that." Jason shook his head. "I just meant that I agree that we should be careful and be on high alert on this Percy guy, but that doesn't mean we should go on a witch hunt for him."

"I agree with Jason," Hazel voiced out. "They're dangerous, but we don't know if they're our friends or allies."

Reyna wasn't too happy with her friends. She turned towards Annabeth. "How about you?"

Annabeth stared at the surface of the wooden table. She was trying to rack her brain on who Percy might be, but she's coming up with nothing.

"Until we learn more about him," Annabeth said. "I say we keep everyone on high alert."

"Are you serious?" Reyna asked angrily.

"Just listen first," Annabeth said calmly. "Clearly, those two are really good fighters. They'd just fought a whole bunch of Romans. It might not be the best idea to go on searching for him especially since we don't know who he is."

"He might lead us to a trap," Frank muttered.

"Exactly." Annabeth said. "Besides, he hasn't shown any hostility towards us."

"He took you down with a scissor move." Jason pointed out.

Annabeth glared at him but continued. "That was just him defending himself against us. I'm not saying we should consider him as an ally. I'm just saying we should be on alert and keep a look out for him."

Everyone seems to agree with this, including Reyna but she didn't look too happy about it.

Just as they were done with their discussion, Rachel bursts into the room.

"Where's Percy?"

**Line Break**

Percy woke up on a bed, surprisingly. At first he thought he was back at Camp Jupiter's infirmary, but as he looked around he realized that he was in a hotel room. His joints felt stiff and his bones made unpleasant cracking sound as he moved.

As Percy tried to get up, his knees felt wobbly. He took about two steps before he fell back onto the carpet floor, just before Zoe entered the room.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Zoe said. "Here, got some food for you."

Percy groaned in pain. "How long was I out?"

Zoe had a thoughtful look on her face. "About three days."

"Is that why I feel like I can eat a whole pig?" Percy muttered. Zoe just laughed as she sat on the bed, looking at Percy who was lying on the floor.

"You're an idiot, you know that right?" Zoe said.

"Help me up, will you?" Percy asked. Zoe offered her hand and Percy took it as she helped Percy to sit up straight. "I thought you didn't want to spend the night with the same room as me?"

Zoe did an expression that looks like a glare but she was blushing at the same time. "Of course not!" She exclaimed. "While you were passed out I slept in the room next door."

Percy chuckled. "How did you pay for the hotel rooms and stuff?"

"Oh, I found your wallet." Zoe grinned as she ate a spoonful of ice cream. "You know, for someone who lives alone you're a very rich man."

"Gaia helped," Percy groaned as he stretches his neck. Zoe handed him a bag of chips. "Thanks," He said as he ripped it open and ate it.

"So, where to next?" Zoe asked.

He found himself staring at Zoe's face before he was pulled back into reality. "Oh, um, Gaia?"

_Get some rest first, Perseus. You've had quite the day._ Gaia said.

"Huh," Percy said. "She said that we have the day off."

"Cool," Zoe shrugged. "I guess we have the time."

"Time for what?"

"A little sparring session," Zoe grinned. "Because I'm not going into another mission again with you being this rusty."

Percy groaned. "Fine." He looked out the hotel room window. "Where are we anyway?"

"New York," Zoe said. "Yeah, you ran all the way here from San Francisco."

So that explains why his legs felt like they'd gone through a blender. Just before Percy could answer, an Iris Message popped into his view.

"Percy?" A voice said. A trickle of dread found its way along Percy's spine. That voice. He knows that voice anywhere.

This isn't happening.

One was enough, but two?

Someone is messing with him. He knew that voice everywhere. And yet, the Iris Message reveals her face, just like the way Percy had last saw her. Right before she'd been crushed under Talos.

"Bianca?"

**A/N: Mic drop.**

**Look, I know Zoe is a little OOC in this fanfic but hey, gotta keep it interesting right?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Bet you weren't expecting that. Well, I have to apologize in advance for this chapter if it's a little bit weird because I'm a little bit tipsy right now. So, enjoy!**

**timbo8: Perhaps. Perhaps not.**

**HeredemAquam: Gotta make you come back so you can keep on reading. And thanks!**

**Ronnie R15: Well, you're gonna have to wait.**

**Chapter 7**

Annabeth and Rachel were sitting by the hills of New Rome, overlooking the entire camp. The sun was about to rise and Annabeth hadn't slept since last night.

"So," Annabeth said in a low voice. "You know this guy?"

Rachel sighed. "I can't believe you don't remember him." Rachel said as she twiddles with her fingers. Her red hair looked like it was on fire from the light of dawn. "You two were inseparable. You've gone through so much together."

"You talk like I should know him," Annabeth pointed out.

"You should. You guys have been friends since, well, as long as I could remember. And you guys dated as well."

It made Annabeth blush, but she decided not to mention anything. "Then why can't I remember him?"

"Can't blame you." Rachel sighed. "I don't know how or why, but everyone doesn't seem to remember him."

"Except for you,"

"Not exactly." Rachel admitted. "I didn't even know him until the Oracle took over my body. Then the memories came back to me like a flood."

Annabeth found this strangely hard to believe. Sure, Rachel is one of her best friends. But the stories seems too ridiculous to be true.

Then again, they were living in a world where gods and monsters exist.

"Did you find out about anything?"

Rachel took a deep breath before reciting the prophecy that the Oracle had conveyed. She knew about what half what the prophecy is about and the rest was just confusing as your usual standard prophecy goes.

"I get some visions about Percy. He's was with someone that I didn't recognize." Rachel shook the memory off of her head. "It won't end well. That much is guaranteed."

Annabeth remembered back to the moment in the vault. "There was one person with Percy that night."

"What did she looked like?"

"Her face was covered up, but she looked older than us."

Rachel was silent for a while. "I don't know, Annabeth. It's hard to figure things out now that no one remembers him."

Annabeth stared far into the horizon. "Is he on our side? Because last night wasn't the best first impression as a friend."

"He is," Rachel nodded. "But I don't know why he's doing this. And clearly, something doesn't want us to know about it."

"What do you mean?"

"On my way here, my helicopter was struck down by something. Luckily no one was injured as we crashed into the water right by the beach. The pilot told me that there was some sort of malfunction on the helicopter, but I knew better. Something tried to stop me from getting to you guys."

"Is that why you showed up smelling like seaweed?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. The point is that -"

Then, the sound of a conch horn could be heard from the camp. "Let's talk about this over breakfast," Annabeth said.

**Line Break**

Percy and Zoe waited nervously in a diner for Bianca. Zoe wasn't particularly surprised with the fact that she's alive, but Percy looked like someone had sucked the life out of him.

Bianca's death had been his fault. How was he going to face her? Is she mad at him? Will she blame him for her death? Even if so, she had the right to.

"Calm down, Percy." Zoe tried to comfort him. "She won't be angry at you."

"How would you know?" Percy asked. Zoe was sitting right across the booth from him.

"Because you're not the reason she's dead. I was there. I know." Zoe said.

They'd probably waited for a while, but it seemed like a heartbeat with Percy being nervous and everything.

"Hey," He heard someone said. Percy looked up to see Bianca di Angelo, a friend of him who's now apparently alive. Percy could see her usual dark eyes that resembled Hades and the olive skin that was similar to her brother's, Nico.

"Hey Bianca," Zoe smiled at her. She stood up and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you're alive."

"Me too," Bianca managed a chuckled. "What happened to that old English accent you used to have?"

"Oh, I had time to get used to the modern English when I was at Elysium." Zoe said simply.

"Wait, you were in Elysium?" Bianca asked. "How come I've never seen you before?"

Zoe shrugged. "It's a bigger place than you thought."

The two then sat down with Bianca sitting right in front of Percy. "Hey Percy,"

"Hey," Percy said with a weak smile. Percy was in a really weird situation. Out of the three people in the booth, two of them have been brought back to life after Percy had seen their deaths.

"Look, I know what you're thinking." Bianca said. "And you have to stop blaming yourself. It was no one's fault and it's especially not your fault."

Those words surprisingly cleared his conscious a little. "But-"

"Even if you are still blaming yourself," Bianca interrupted. "I forgive you."

Percy would've burst out in tears if he was still a kid, but he kept his composure. "Thanks, Bianca. I needed that."

Bianca gave him a smile. "How's Nico?"

"The last time I saw him, we were battling against the Giants." Percy said. "But I know he survived. He's doing well."

Bianca sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."

Percy bit the bottom of his lip. "How are you here?" Percy said before he caught himself. "I mean, I'm happy that you're here and I'm glad, but how?"

"I'm guessing you came back the same way I did," Zoe said as she sipped on her coffee. "Oh, that tastes good. Did you went through the elevator as well?"

Bianca nodded. "When I got back to the surface, I was surprised. It took a while to get used to. Being alive after being dead for a couple of years was a pretty rough transition."

Zoe groaned. "Tell me about it."

"After I went back to the surface, I contacted the only person I could think of." She gestured at Percy. "You."

Percy was confused. "Why me? Why not Nico or the other Hunters?"

Bianca sighed. "The Hunters are with Artemis. I was afraid that they might send me back to Elysium if Artemis found out that I came back. As for Nico . . ." Bianca took a deep breath. "I want him to be happy."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been doing well. It probably took him a while to get over my death. I don't know if my stay here is permanent or temporary, but if it's the latter then I'd hate for him to go through that experience all over again."

Percy figured that Bianca did have a good point. The first few years after Bianca's death, Nico hated Percy and he'd been the cause of the Labyrinth being discovered. It was rough on someone as young as him.

"Well, it really is good to see you." Percy said with a smile.

"It's good to be back." Bianca smiled. "I mean, I'm gonna miss Elysium, but it's good to be alive again."

They then sat there in comfortable silence for a while before Gaia spoke in his head. _There's a relic nearby._

"What?" Percy said.

"What?" Zoe then asked.

"Sorry, I was talking with Gaia," Percy said before looking at Bianca who was confused. "Oh, um . . ."

_You can tell her if you want. She'll be a valuable ally._ Gaia said.

"You seem to be a lot more lenient lately," Percy stated out. He then turned his attention towards Bianca. "I should explain."

Percy then explained the entire situation that Percy and Zoe were currently in and what's actually happening.

"So you're saying that something big is coming?" Bianca said. "Something even bigger than Gaia herself?"

"Or so she said," Zoe added.

"I don't know for certain on what it is, but what I do know is that she's right." Percy said. "Monster attacks have been frequent and at random. Something is at work here and we need to stop it."

Bianca stared onto the table surface. She had a thoughtful look on her face. "I'll join you."

"Um, what?" Percy asked.

"It seems like she' serious about this," Bianca said. "And I didn't return to the living world for it to be destroyed again. So, I'm in."

"I need you to think about this for a second." Percy said. "If you're doing this, you can't see anyone that you know. Not Artemis, not the Hunters, and not Nico."

Bianca took a deep breath. "I know."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Percy asked.

"I'm sure. I'm doing this to save them."

"Are you really sure about-"

"Godammit Percy she's sure!" Zoe said in exasperation. "Besides, we could use an extra hand. You almost got us captured back in San Francisco."

"Well, I still got us out of that mess anyway, so we're even." Percy grumbled. "Now let's go. Gaia says there's another relic nearby."

"I thought it was going to be our day off," Zoe whined.

"It is, but duty beckons." Percy said as he grabbed his cane. "Now let's go."

**Line Break**

Thalia wasn't there when the New Rome vault got infiltrated which was unfortunate since the Hunters would've easily captured the culprit.

She's now on her way to meet Annabeth to tell them that the Hunters were leaving to continue on their stupid cleanup mission.

She went into the dining hall to find Annabeth along with Jason and Rachel. Rachel and Thalia wasn't really the best of friends, but she considered her a good friend.

"Hey Annie," Thalia grinned.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I told you not to call me that,"

Thalia just shrugged while Jason grinned. "Hey sis. What's up?"

"I'm just here to tell you that the Hunters and I are heading off now."

"So soon?"

"Yeah, well, Dad made us go on this mission so blame him," Thalia grumbled. "Anyway, I'll let you know if I ever meet that Percy guy again."

"Thalia," Rachel said. "That tiara you're wearing. Where did you get that?" Rachel gestured at the tiara around her head.

"Artemis gave it to me as a sign of being the lieutenant of the Hunt." Thalia explained. "Why?"

Rachel stared at it for a few more seconds before shaking her head. "Nothing. I thought it looked kind of familiar."

"Well, we have met before so maybe it's' that?"

"Maybe," Rachel muttered but she didn't look satisfied with the answer.

"Well, I'll see you guys later." Thalia said. Annabeth stood up and hugged her.

"Stay safe, Thalia. And don't do anything stupid."

"Psh, me do anything stupid? Tell that to Jason."

"Hey!" The four of them laughed but Rachel wasn't really into it. She'd sworn that she'd seen that tiara before but she couldn't remember where.

_Maybe I'm overthinking it,_ she thought to herself.

But she knew better than that.

**Line Break (A/N: A little something for you to ponder upon)**

A man dressed in in a royal blue suit stepped out of the black sedan with a briefcase in his hand. The man resembled a navy captain along with his hat and several badges pinned on his chest.

The man looked timeless with his neatly trimmed black beard and deep tan. If he wasn't in a uniform, he would've looked like a veteran fisherman.

The man walked towards the Lotus Hotel and Casino. While the intoxicating smell of lotuses might tempt people to stay here, the man was unfazed.

"Hello sir, would you like to stay in our hotel?" One of the staff members offered him.

"I'm just going to be here for a moment," The man said.

"But sir, you must try our open buffet and bar. We have tons of-" The staff member stopped when the man glared at him. "I understand sir."

"Good," The man said before walking deeper into the building. He made his way towards the pool area, where he knew he'll find what he's looking for.

The pool area was impressive on its own with a diving platform that ranges up to two hundred feet high. Usually, no one could've survived if they'd dived into the water from this height.

But the man knew, she was no ordinary person.

The man watched as the girl jumped from the highest platform all the way down to the pool, doing acrobatics on the way down. Miraculously, she survived and was smiling afterwards.

The man was unsurprised by this fact as he came closer to the pool. "Lucia Evergreen," The man called.

The girl, Lucia, turned towards him. She swam towards the edge of the pool. Her purple hair was tied in a ponytail as her fair skin seemed to glisten from the light.

"Who are you?" Lucia asked as she floats in the water.

"I'm your father." The man said. "I've come up pick you up,"

Lucia didn't seem to believe him. "Um, no. My father is on a business trip with my mother. They'll be back in a few hours."

"Yes, those are your mortal parents." The man said. "I, however, am your real father. And it's time you get out of here."

"What do you mean?" Lucia said.

"You've been here for a while. The dangers have passed. You're free to go."

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about." Lucia said as she stepped out of the pool. "Now stay away from me, weirdo."

The man just sighed as Lucia was about to walk away, but not before she caught a reflection of herself in the mirror.

She looked completely normal, aside from the glowing green trident symbol floating above her head.

"Who are you?" Lucia asked again.

"I am Poseidon," Poseidon said. "God of the Sea. And you, Lucia," His briefcase morphed into a golden trident. "are my daughter."

**A/N: Isn't cliffhanging fun?**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry, had to take a bit of break. My had a really painful headache which made it difficult to write especially when I can't even see straight. But I'm feeling a lot better now. So, yeah. Questions!**

**timbo8: Who knows? :)**

**DreamCatcher06: Yeah, it's sad. But it makes for a good read.**

**PercyReader: Yeah, what he said.**

**TalentedTal420: I'm offended jk.**

**Now, onwards!**

**Chapter 8**

The trio of Percy, Zoe and Bianca were now standing right in front of the Empire State Building while people passed them by.

"You have got to be kidding me." Percy grumbled. "Is a relic really up there on Olympus?"

_Not all the way up_, Gaia said. _Somewhere between Olympus and the Earth._

"There's nothing between the two except thin air." Percy pointed out.

_You'd be surprised._

"Huh,"

"What's wrong?" Bianca asked.

"Gaia said the relic is between Olympus and the Earth."

"Um, what?"

"Oh, so you mean the lower sky," Zoe said as if it was obvious. Bianca and Percy stared at her, looking for an explanation. "You guys don't know about it?" Bianca and Percy shook their heads. "You know how the Greek pantheon has the God of Upper Air, right?"

Bianca nodded while Percy shook his head. Percy tend to not store that kind of information since, well, it doesn't help.

Zoe sighed. "Aether is the Protogenos of the Upper Sky. In our skies, there are two parts. One is the upper sky, which is where Olympus is and the air that the gods breathe. The other is the lower sky, which is meant for mortals."

Percy stared at her blankly. "Uh-huh."

Bianca chuckled while Zoe rolled her eyes. "In short, there _is _something between Olympus and the Earth. The only question is how do we get there."

"You know all this stuff but you don't know how to get there?" Percy asked. Zoe hit him on the arm.

"It's not like we ever tried to go there. Plus, it's no place for mortals. From what Lady Artemis told me, the lower sky contains the strongest winds known to man. It'll be impossible for us to go there." Zoe explained.

"But aren't we immortal?" Bianca gestured at both Zoe and herself.

"Partially," Zoe said. "Besides, it's not about being immortal. Only someone with the strength of a god can withstand those winds. Even some gods struggled against those winds."

"What kind of winds are we talking about?" Percy asked.

"The kind that creates climate changing, catastrophic hurricane. The kind of wind that's equivalent to Typhon's strength. The kind that as soon as you walk into it, your skin will be peeled off of your body." Zoe explained.

Percy gulped. "So it's a strong wind." Percy said nervously. "Got it."

"Even if we somehow made it through all that, it's most likely guarded by Aeolus, the Master of Winds." Zoe said.

"Ah, can't forget about that." The more Percy hears about the place, the more he is unsure about getting the relic. "So, any ideas?"

Bianca sighed. "I have one, but you won't like it."

**Line Break**

Lucia made it to Camp Half-Blood without any problems. You'd think that having the aura of someone like Poseidon would attract the attention of all kinds of monsters, but surprisingly nothing went near them.

Maybe it was for the fact that Poseidon had took the time to send his daughter there personally.

Chiron was waiting in front of the Big House along with Mr D as Poseidon and Lucia walked over there. You wouldn't know that the man was Poseidon with his Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt, but the golden trident gave it away.

"Lord Poseidon," Chiron bowed in his centaur form while Dionysus just yawned.

"Fresh meat, Uncle?" Dionysus asked with boredom.

"You would do well not to address your cousin like that, Dionysus," Poseidon said calmly. "Chiron, I trust you will care for her, yes?"

"Of course, my Lord," Chiron nodded. "She will be safe within the borders of our camp."

Poseidon nodded in approval. Then, he turned to Lucia. "You will do well here." Lucia didn't look like she was paying attention. "Is there something wrong?"

Lucia sighed. "It's just so much to take in all at once. I mean, you're a god,"

"I'm here too," Dionysus said without excitement. "But who wants to talk to me when you got Poseidon around,"

Poseidon chuckled. "Chiron will teach you everything you need to know." He turned towards Chiron. "I leave her in your care."

Chiron nodded. Poseidon was about to teleport away but Lucia stopped him. "Wait," She called. "Will I see you again?"

"Not likely. Your dad's a busy man." Dionysus offered.

Poseidon sighed. "You will, but not often. But you can be sure I will watch over you." He said with a smile before disappearing in a gust of sea breeze.

"Well, that was entertaining." Dionysus said. "Chiron, we're still up for the game of pinochle?"

"I look forward to it," Chiron nodded before Dionysus disappears. "You'd have to tolerate him for a while. That was Dionysus, the God of Wine and the camp director,"

"Huh," Lucia said. "Not looking forward to meeting him again."

Chiron chuckled. "Come, child. We'll take a walk."

Chiron accompanied Lucia and gave her a tour of the camp. Along the way, he explained on how the gods came to be and how the standard life of a demigod is.

"Though, it is strange." Chiron said. "It's been a while since I've seen a child of Poseidon. Both Zeus and Hades have their children and both have become great heroes."

"Shoot," Lucia said. "Did I miss my shot?"

Chiron actually laughed. "I think you'd be grateful that you did. It's only been a year since we'd gone up against Mother Earth herself,"

"Mother Earth . . ." Lucia muttered. "You mean Gaia?"

Chiron nodded. "And just before that, the senior demigods from this camp took on the Titan army that was invading Manhattan, let by the Titan King himself, Kronos."

Lucia whistled. "That must be one hell of a fight. How did you guys win?"

Chiron then slowed down before stopping in his tracks. "I can't seem to recall. It's all a blur." Chiron then smiled apologetically. "You must forgive me child, I am an old man."

"No worries." Lucia said.

Chiron tried hard to remember the event, but he couldn't seem to do it. It might be due to his old age, but he doubted it. He remembered every single hero that he's trained. He knew they'd won. He just couldn't remember how.

"Ah, here's your cabin." They stopped in front of a low and long cabin, similar to a seaside house. The windows appear to be facing the sea and the symbol of a trident could be seen carved into the wood above the door.

"Am I the only who lives here?" Lucia asked.

Chiron nodded. "Well, except for Tyson whenever he stops by."

"Who's Tyson?"

"A friend of ours. A cyclops who is currently the General of the Cyclopes army. Now he's trying to reconstruct the Sibylline Books along with Ella and Rachel, our oracle." Chiron explained. "Which reminds me, Tyson is technically your half-brother, since Poseidon is the father of all cyclopes."

"Huh," Lucia said. It took all she had to not burst into confusion. "Can I go in?" Chiron gestured for her to do so. Lucia stepped into the cabin. It was incredible as she could totally see herself getting used to this. There was just one problem though.

"Chiron," Lucia called. "What does Tyson look like?"

"Big guy, beefy hands, one eye in the middle of his head." Chiron said. "Why?"

"Then who's this?" Lucia examined the pictures that were plastered on the wall. It was pictures of someone that she didn't know. Some of them included various people from Chiron to a blonde girl to a woman who looks like she's in her late thirties. Nothing was similar in each picture except for one guy who seems to be in all of them. A boy with raven black hair and sea green eyes, similar to Lucia's. While he looks to be around Lucia's age in the picture, she could tell that these pictures were taken a while ago.

"That must be Percy Jackson," Chiron said. Since the doorway was too low, he had to duck down and peek inside.

"Who now?"

"Apparently, he's someone we know of and has been here for quite a while, but no one seems to know who he is." Chiron explained.

"Not even the girl in the picture?"

"That's Annabeth Chase, one of our camp counsellor." Chiron said. "And yes, not even her."

Lucia looked at the pictures for a bit longer. "Strange."

"It is indeed," Chiron agreed. "That picture was taken a while back. I would've remembered if someone like him had -"

"No, not that." Lucia said.

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it, my dear?"

"I feel . . . drawn to him. Like I'm supposed to know him."

"Well my dear, if you do know him then please tell us. I heard he's caused quite the commotion in New Rome."

"Where?"

Then, the sound of a horn could be heard. "Is that a call for lunch?"

"An attack," Chiron's voice turned serious. "Get to the armory, Lucia. We're about to engage in combat."

**Line Break**

Annabeth was standing by near Festus, ready to depart for Camp Half-Blood along with Jason, Leo and Piper who were on their way.

Reyna was there to bid them farewell. "I do wish you can stay a bit longer. I've got tons of things to figure out."

"Yeah, same on my side." Annabeth smiled. "Along with designing Olympus again. I'm tired of declining requests from Ares for his statue to be built with _actual _human skin."

Reyna shuddered. "I'm glad I'm Roman. Mars doesn't do that."

Annabeth chuckled. "Well, see you some other time," Annabeth pulled Reyna into an embrace before an Iris Message shouted her name.

"Annabeth!"

Annabeth jumped. She turned around to see the floating head of Connor Stoll in a rainbow. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, but we got a problem!" Connor said. Annabeth could hear commotion in the background along with an explosion.

"What's going on?"

"We're under attack," Connor explained. "And the enemy. They're huge. There's a lot of them. We need back up!"

Annabeth's heart filled with dread. "We'll be right there. Hang tight!" Annabeth said before waving her hand through the message. She turned around towards Reyna. "Reyna-"

"Way ahead of you," Reyna said as she hung up on her phone. Her face turned serious. "I've assembled the Romans. We'll be ready to depart in a few minutes."

Jason, Leo and Piper arrived next to them. "Okay, we're ready."

"Change of plans." Annabeth said. "Camp Half-Blood is under attack and from the sound of it, they're in trouble."

That couldn't be good. Sure, the Greeks weren't really known for their militia tactics and battle prowess like the Romans, but they're a formidable force. They have a huge number of demigods and all of them are trained in combat.

If something manages to threaten a force like that, then it can't be good.

"The Romans are getting ready." Reyna said. "But Annabeth, how do we get there? I mean, we can drive or fly, but it would take hours for us to arrive."

Annabeth bit back a curse. Travelling by sea is not an option. Travelling by land would take far too long and so will flight. Annabeth wished Nico was here right now to shadow travel them to Camp Half-Blood, but he was on another mission.

Plus, Annabeth doubt he could cover that much distance in one jump without passing out.

Out of all the people, Leo spoke up. "Well, I guess it's time."

"Time for what?" Piper asked.

"There was supposed to be a big reveal for it, but the situation requires for it." Leo said. "Festus, if you would do the honor."

Festus creaked as its body straightened. Festus' body started to tremble with puffs of smoke going out everywhere.

"Um, is that normal?" Jason asked.

On cue, something popped out of Festus' body. It landed right in front of them. At first, it was something the size of a compact disc, but it later expanded to a circular platform, probably thirty meters in diameter. In the middle of it was something that looked like a disco ball balanced on a stick.

Everyone stared at him. "What's this supposed to be?" Annabeth asked.

"Glad you asked." Leo said. "With the help of the Archimedes' Sphere, the Goddess Iris' magic, an astrolabe, a crystal dug out by our friend Hazel and a sprinkle of Leo Valdez's geniousity -"

"That's not a word."

"- I present to you, 'Leo's Totally-Awesome-and-Works Transporter'."

Everyone stared at him.

"Tough crowd," Leo said. "Basically, this thing enables us to transport between two points instantly. It uses the astrolabe to figure out the coordinates while the sphere and Iris' magic enables us to travel in that speed and the Sphere makes everything work the way it's supposed to be. The crystal is so that the magic doesn't overload the machine."

"So, basically a teleporter." Jason said.

"You're no fun. Yeah. It's a teleporter." Leo grumbled. "I made two of these. The other one is in Bunker Nine in Camp Half-Blood."

"Why did you wait to tell us?" Reyna asked.

"Well, I have some trouble to get it to work properly." Leo admitted. "A few times something I tried to teleport ends up way off course and sometimes they just disappear."

"So, is it working now?"

"I'm positive." Leo said assuringly.

"How positive?" Jason asked.

"About eighty percent."

"Where's the other twenty percent?"

Leo winced. "I haven't actually tested this on a live subject. There might be some side effects to it, but I can assure you it's nothing lethal."

They all looked at each other. "Well, it's better than nothing."

**Line Break**

"Let me get this straight," Percy said as the elevator climbed up to the top floor. "Your plan to make sure we survive this wind is to scare it?"

Bianca nodded.

"You've done this before?" Zoe asked.

Bianca nodded again.

"And it works?"

Bianca nodded the third time. "Children of Hades can radiate terror onto all living things. Since these winds must be controlled by wind spirits, I'm going to scare them."

Zoe and Percy looked at each other. "How come when she says it, it makes sense?" Percy asked. Zoe just shrugged.

A few minutes went by before the elevator made a screeching halt, signaling that they've arrived on their floor.

Now you're wondering, how do you arrive in the middle between Olympus and the Empire State Building?

Simple, take the elevator next to it.

The Empire State Building has six elevators that lead to the skies. Only one of them leads to Olympus. The other six leads to various places. This is to keep unwanted visitors from arriving.

One of them stops just near the border between upper air and lower air. As the doors of the elevator opened, they were completely blown away.

Literally. The winds were so strong that it felt like Percy's something was peeling his skin off of his body. He pressed the button to close the elevator doors.

"Okay, we need a new plan." Percy panted. "This isn't going to work."

"No kidding," Zoe said as she took a deep breath. "It's like being hit with by a freight train."

"Come on guys, we can do this." Bianca assured them. She pressed the button to open the elevator doors. Once again, they were completely blown away.

Somehow, the winds were stronger as they pushed Percy, Zoe, and Bianca against the walls of the elevator. The pressure of it eventually becomes way too strong for their lungs that Percy had trouble breathing. He could barely lift his fingers, which was a problem since he wants to close the door.

Percy could see Bianca's eyes closing as she passed out from the pressure. They had no choice. This was a mistake.

Percy gathered up all his strength and slowly lift his hand forward along with the sword.

At first, it looked like he was going to stab himself. Percy pulled the sword back and it sank through the metal walls of the door next to Percy, creating a hole.

The wind the rest as the hole expanded instantly and they were blown off into a free fall through the hole and towards the sky.

"Is this part of your plan?" Zoe shouted through the wind.

Percy dived towards Bianca who was free falling unconsciously. As they descended through the cloud, Percy could see Long Island Sound just a few hundred meters in front of them. If they could land in the water, Percy could save all three of them.

Percy offered his hand to Zoe. If they were going to do this, they need to stick together. Zoe grabbed Percy's hand. "We head for the water!" Percy shouted over the roaring wind.

His face felt numb from the constant pressure of wind. The sea of Long Island glistened from the sun. He aimed carefully to make sure that he didn't land on . . . well, land.

Three hundred meters . . .

Two hundred meters . . .

One hundred meters . . .

SPLASH!

Percy, Zoe and Bianca did what could've been the world record for highest free fall diving.

They landed safe and sound, but their clothes were all wet. Percy propelled them to the beach. "Thank god we made it."

"Couldn't you at least make it so our clothes would stay dry." Zoe grumbled.

"In my defense, I was focused on making sure both of you wouldn't die from the impact." Percy panted. "And you're welcome for saving you."

Bianca then woke up, gasping for air. "What happened?" She asked. "Why are we all wet?"

"Well, your plan didn't work." Percy said. "You passed out,"

Bianca winced. "Sorry. I guess it's hard to scare something when you can't move."

"You got that right," Zoe said as she pulled the kelp out of her hair. "So, new plan?"

Before Percy could answer, he heard a horn blaring through the sky. "What was that?" Bianca asked.

He swore he's heard that sound before, but he couldn't recall. As he was trying to remember, monsters started to appear on the beach. Some came from the water while others just appeared from the shadows.

"We've got company," Percy grumbled.

**A/N: I thought I'd be nicer and not leave you with a sort of not a cliffhanger. And yes, the horn that Percy heard was the same horn that Chiron heard. Most of this was happening at the same time. With that said, see you next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I have nothing to say. So, question time!**

**reviewguy: Thanks!**

**ShnabS: Thanks for the criticism. I'll try to improve on it.**

**Fangirl101: Thanks!**

**Just Reading/Just Curious: Nah it's okay. I appreciate constructive criticism. Besides, everyone has their own opinion.**

**TalentedTal420: You're welcome and muahahahaha!**

**Guest: I write my stories based on my will to write them. If I try and force out a chapter with any of my stories, it's just gonna be a half-assed chapter and would really suck. So, yeah. I will update them tho.**

**Now, onwards!**

**Chapter 9**

The demigods of Camp Half-Blood had trained for their whole lives. They were prepared if monsters attack. They were prepared to go into combat in a moments notice.

What they didn't prepare for was a full on invasion on Camp Half-Blood.

They were surrounded from both land and sea. Preparations were being made at Thalia's tree, around camp borders and at the beach. They'd expected for the magical borders of the camp to prevent the monsters from entering, but it appears that they could walk through just fine, which was a surprise.

"I don't understand," a camper named Will Solace said. "Why didn't the borders work?"

"We'll have to worry about it later," Chiron said in a serious tone. "I need you to help arrange our defenses. Bring the Hephaestus campers and set some traps around our borders.

Will nodded and took off. The camp was in mayhem. People were running around carrying supplies and weapons. One of them even carried what looked like an enlarged version of a potato gun.

"Does this happen all the time?" Lucia asked.

"We have attacks here and there, but not a full on invasion like this." Chiron said as his horse tail swung nervously. "Someone had planned this."

"Who?" Lucia asked.

"A question that we'll dwell on later." Chiron said. "Lucia, since it's your first day, I don't want you in combat. You will help the healers to drag any wounded demigod out of battle. If things get too intense, I need you to-"

"I can fight, Chiron." Lucia said as she drew her weapon. The silver blade was thin and long, like a toothpick for giants. The hand guard was decorated beautifully, similar to vines wrapping climbing up a wall. The handle itself was golden wrapped with leather.

It was a rapier, not really a suitable weapon for monsters and certainly not meant for Greeks. The Greek fighting style involved slashing and hacking. The rapier's edge is more for stabbing manoeuvre since the blade itself is too flexible to be used for slashing.

Chiron looked doubtful. "Are you sure, Lucia?"

"I've had some fencing lessons when I was younger." Lucia explained. "I'll be fine."

Chiron looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded. "Be safe, Lucia. I would prefer if your father didn't unleash his full wrath on me."

Lucia nodded and headed for the beach. Since she knew that she was the daughter of Poseidon, the water is probably the best place to fight on.

At the beach, wooden barriers and spikes were already placed along the shoreline. Lucia was about to step towards the beach when a camper stopped her.

"Careful," The camper said. "We placed a whole bunch of traps near the beach. They'll be our first line of defense."

Lucia gulped. "Got it. Will it work?"

"It'll vaporize some of them," The camper said nervously. "But I doubt it'll scare them or diminish their numbers substantially. With an army that size, they'll have monster dust to spare."

Lucia looked over to the sea. While she couldn't quite see it, she knew that there was some massive movements in the water. She couldn't quite explain it, but it feels like her senses extended as far as the ocean did.

"About a hundred boats," Lucia said. "Maybe more."

"You can see that far?" The camper asked.

"No, I just kinda felt it." Lucia said. "Daughter of Poseidon perks."

"Great, nice knowing you have our back out here." The camper said. "But if it's that big, we're gonna need more traps." He turned around and whistled. "Sanchez! We need more Greek Fire!"

This was going to be rough.

**Line Break**

Percy stabbed one telkhine in the gut before kicking the snout of another. He ducked under the sword swing of another one and cleaved its head into two.

Meanwhile, Bianca and Zoe were fending off a hellhound attack coming from the rear. They popped out of the shadows and were surrounding them. They fired arrow after arrow, each one catching monsters right between the eyes. Any of them that got too close will meet the girls' hunting knives.

Percy thought about using his water powers, but he knew that wouldn't do anything since telkhines were basically half seal and that water wouldn't affect them as much. So instead, he used the power of his sword.

"Lend me your strength," Percy muttered as he ran his palm over the sword's blade. The sword then morphed as it lengthened got thinner and lengthened into a metal staff about two meters in length. Both ends of the bo staff were thicker than the shaft but were sharpened into a tip. "Good enough," Percy said.

He used the staff to pole vault himself into the air and slammed it down onto the head of a telkhine, crushing its skull. He then spun around with it, slamming into any monsters in its way.

Percy twirled the staff in his hand before stabbing a telkhine on the head with the sharp tip before stabbing another one behind him with the other tip. He spun both telkhines around and threw them into the crowd of enemies, causing them to tumble.

Percy looked over towards where Bianca and Zoe were and noticed that they were being completely outnumbered. Percy made his way towards them, knocking hellhounds out of the way with his staff before standing back to back with Zoe and Bianca.

"Nice weapon," Zoe said as she fired an arrow into a monster's head. "Any more tricks up in your sleeve?"

"Just this one," Percy said as he slammed his staff into the ground, dissolving a hellhound into a puddle of shadow. "I was hoping you might have an idea."

"I'm almost out of arrows." Zoe said.

"Me too," Bianca admitted. "And there's still a bunch of them."

They tried their best in fending off the monsters, but it was draining their energy and the enemy seemed endless.

Just when Percy was about to suggest that they flee, a massive thunderbolt struck right in front of them, evaporating the monsters. Then, a barrage of explosions followed suit, disintegrating what's left of them as the telkhines and hellhounds retreated.

As the smoke cleared, Percy could see a familiar figure standing there, his sword was rested on his shoulder and a lopsided grin was clear on his face.

"Glad I made it." Jason said. "Did you miss me?"

**Line Break**

Their first line of defense worked well . . . for a moment.

Explosions went off as the enemy charged up the beach. It looked like a reenactment of World War II. If only the second World War had monsters and Greek Fire.

After all the traps had been used up, the enemy forces weren't fazed and there were still a whole bunch of them left.

"Well, you better get ready," A camper told her. "They're charging up."

Lucia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She drew her sword and placed it on her chest with the blade pointing to the skies. "_En garde_," She muttered to herself. It was something that she'd always done before and fencing match.

The enemy charged forward. Lucia could hear the roar of the enemy along with the demigods own deafening roar of defiance, challenging the enemy to attack them.

Lucia kept her eyes closed. The noise all around her started to deafen slowly until all she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat.

She opened her eyes to see the enemies were approaching rapidly, but she stayed calm. She readied her stance, her rapier in hand.

As the enemy approaches, she whispered to herself, "_Allez_,".

The two armies clashed. Lucia's mind went to overdrive as her demigod's instinct kicked in along with her reflexes from fencing.

She stabbed the head of a dracaenae with ease before parrying a sword strike from a rogue demigod and slicing at his leg and stabbing him.

Lucia sidestepped an wooden club that was coming down on her wielded by a cyclops before stabbing its stomach five times in rapid succession and slicing it sideways. The monster crumbled into dust.

Lucia saw a fellow camper getting dragged back by a hellhound that had bitten on her leg. She swooped in and sliced the snout of the hellhound before stabbing it on the head. Lucia dragged the camper into safety.

"Thanks," The camper gasped. Lucia nodded before rushing back into battle.

For a second, it looked like they were winning. But then, things started to turn south. A cyclops managed to send a few campers flying by the swing of its axe. A dracaenae stabbed a camper through the gut and caught another one with her weighted net. The poor trapped demigod got munched by hellhounds.

The tide was slowly turning into the enemy's favour. The campers were being forced back from the beach. Lucia was trying her best to keep the monsters at bay, but they were being outnumbered.

She glanced over her shoulder to see that the forces near Thalia's tree has been driven back and the monsters have the high ground.

If this were to continue, the camp was going to be overrun. Lucia had only been here for a few hours. She wasn't going to let her new home be destroyed.

On cue, she heard a female voice shout: "Twelfth Legion Fulminata!"

Then a defiant roar of crowd came straight from the forest. At first Lucia thought the trees were screaming, but then a surge of people in bronze armor charged through.

_Please don't be enemy reinforcements_, Lucia muttered in her head.

As it turns out, they were the demigods' reinforcements. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood continued the cheer and fought withe renewed vigor. Their new forces split into two, one heading for the beach and one for the hill.

The one heading for the beach carried what looked like a golden eagle on a stick. Seeing it gave Lucia a sort of energy boost. She was even more determined to defend her new home.

The monsters then got barraged with a bombardment of explosions. Lucia looked up to see a flying trireme ship with cannons firing everywhere.

Lucia was in the middle of finishing off a telkhine when a blonde girl stepped up next to her and finished the job with her sword.

"So, what's our situation?" She asked.

Lucia recognized her face from the pictures that were hanging on the wall in the Poseidon's cabin. "I'm guessing you're Annabeth." Lucia said. "I'm a new camper."

"Oh. In that case, welcome aboard." Annabeth said as she slashed the legs of a cyclops and Lucia stabbed its gut as it crumbled to its knees. "How new?"

"As in, I've-just-joined-today new." Lucia explained.

"For a new kid, you fight well." Annabeth said. "Duck!"

Lucia ducked without hesitation as Annabeth stabbed at a dracaenae who'd snuck up behind her. "Thanks for showing up."

"Glad to help. The Romans were eager for some battle anyway." Annabeth said.

"Romans?"

"Explain later. Kill monsters now." Annabeth said and Lucia decided to agree on it.

**Line Break**

"Funny seeing you here, Grace." Percy panted. He didn't realize how tired he was until he'd stopped fighting.

"I should say the same about you." Jason said. "The last time I saw you, you stole something from us."

"It's not stealing if you don't own it."

Jason thought about it for a moment. "Touche." He grinned. "Anyway, we decided that you weren't a threat."

"Good." Percy said.

"But you're not a friend either. To be honest, we don't know who you are."

"I'm fine with that."

Jason chuckled. "But I find you okay to be around with." He said. "What brings you to Camp Half-Blood?"

Percy mentally cursed. Is that where he was?

"Landed here by accident." Percy said. "Didn't plan on it, but I plan on leaving."

"Not so fast, Jackson," Jason said. "We need your help. Camp Half-Blood is being invaded and the Romans are here as backup. But from what I'm seeing," He turned his attention to the sea. "It's not going to be enough."

Percy heart filled with dread. His home was under attack?

"Sure," Percy said without hesitation. "But as soon as we're done, I'm gonna be on my way."

"Deal," Jason said.

Percy turned towards Bianca and Zoe. "I need you to get out of here."

"What? No!" Bianca said. "We're going to help you."

"Look, if anyone that knows you see your faces, they're gonna start to ask questions, which is something I would like to avoid." Percy said.

"What about you?" Bianca asked.

"They . . . won't remember me." Percy muttered sadly. "I'll explain later, but you guys need to go."

"Go where?" Zoe asked.

"Gaia will help you." Percy said. "You will, won't you?"

_Do not worry, Perseus. I will ensure their safety_. Gaia spoke in his mind.

"Good. Now, get going. And don't get spotted!" Percy said. Zoe and Bianca nodded before running off into the forest.

"Where are they headed?" Jason asked.

"Somewhere else." Percy said. "Now, we have an invasion to stop, don't we?"

**Line Break**

While the alliance between Roman and Greek demigods were enough to fend the monsters off, they couldn't keep this forever. The numbers on the enemy forces seemed endless.

Lucia was getting tired. Casualties were immeasurable. It would take an act of god to make these monsters go away.

And she got what she wished for.

The skies turned dark with thunder booming in the distance. The wind started to pick up speed. It looks like it's going to rain heavily.

From one end of the beach, something sped past the enemy forces from the side. It was like a walking hurricane. It blew enemies away and out of the water, causing chaos among their ranks.

On the other side of camp on the hill, lightning seemed to strike enemies left and right. It was like Zeus himself was picking off enemies one by one. Lucia could see hovering in the skies a blonde boy, about Lucia's age. He seemed to command the lightning all around them.

At the beach, Lucia see another boy with black hair storming across enemy lines with rage and the intent to destroy. It was as if the embodiment of Poseidon and Zeus themselves decided to help them out.

It took a while before Lucia realized that the storm is caused by those two combining their powers together, driving the enemy forces back and giving a chance for them to breathe.

"I never knew Jason was this powerful," Annabeth muttered next to Lucia.

"I don't think he's doing it by himself." Lucia said, pointing at the boy with the black hair.

Annabeth squinted her eyes to see if she could see him clearer. "That's Percy Jackson." She said begrudgingly.

"You know him?"

"Not really," Annabeth said. "We've had a few encounters and the last one didn't end so well."

Percy was still charging through the enemy lines, forcing them to focus on him instead.

Lucia took the opportunity and struck down the distracted enemies. The campers followed her lead and started to advance, pushing the monsters out of the beach.

Lucia sidestepped a thrust from the trident of a dracaenae before countering with a thrust of her own straight into the monster's gut. It crumbled into dust as Lucia parried another strike and send that one into Tartarus as well.

The fight seemed to be going in their favour. They were finally gaining ground and pushing the enemy back.

But Lucia noticed that the winds have slowed down. She looked over towards Percy and saw him fending off a dozen of monsters by himself. He's exhausted and keeping up the hurricane was draining him fast.

"I'm going in," Lucia said. Annabeth tried to stop her but she was already on the move, going towards Percy. She slid under a cyclops' legs and jumped over a hellhound. Lucia was moving gracefully, weaving in and out of enemy lines with such elegance that she looked like a refined acrobat.

As she reached Percy, Lucia realized how bad the situation was. Percy has been wounded on the shoulder and was bleeding bad. He's panting heavily and was trembling.

"Get out of here, kid." Percy grunted. "It's not safe."

"Neither is going alone against this army." Lucia said. "Come on, get up." Lucia offered her hand.

Percy looked at it reluctantly but took it anyway. As soon as their hands touch, both of them felt something. It was like a spark of electricity after a circuit board has been turned on after a long time being turned off.

At that instance, both of them looked at each other. "You felt that, right?" Lucia asked.

Suddenly, Percy felt reinvigorated with new energy. "Yeah." He said. What the hell was that feeling?

But it was a question for later as the monsters charged in on them. "We've got company." Lucia said.

Lucia and Percy charged forward, their steps were in the same rhythm, surprisingly. Percy slashed at a telkhine's snout as Lucia vaulted over it and stabbed the hellhound behind it. A cyclops tried to grab Lucia, but Percy slid in and slashed behind the monster's kneecap as Julia finished it off with a stab into its eye.

They stood back to back as they slashed and stabbed monsters to dust, becoming a unit of pure destruction. Both of them didn't think about it. They just let their instincts take charge.

They have never met each other before, and yet they synergize so well with each other. Each of them knew how the other would move and each knew how to react to it.

Percy had been fighting with his friends his whole life, but he'd never come across someone that perfectly matched his style of fighting more than Lucia.

It was the same with Lucia as well. Lucia had barely known anyone for as long as she could remember, but it felt like she knew Percy really well.

The two demigods didn't notice it, but the sea was churning alongside them. The combination of their unknown powers were forcing the sea to do their bidding. The waves started to pick up. The two of them alone were an act of God.

They fought alongside each other, crashing through enemy defenses with the campers helping them out from behind.

Percy finished off his last monster the same time as Lucia did before he swung around with his sword, thinking there was another one when his sword met Lucia's rapier at the same time.

The clang of their blades sent a ripple through the ocean, causing the ground to tremble. The enemy forces panicked and started to retreat as their boats sped away from the beach.

The battle was finally over. Lucia and Percy were still in a sort of stand off. Both of them were tired and were panting heavily with their swords still crossed.

Percy finally lowered his sword and Lucia did the same. "You're good." Lucia admitted.

"I could say the same about you," Percy said. "What's your name?"

"Lucia Evergreen," She introduced herself. "And you are?"

"Percy Jackson," He said. He looked over towards the hill. "I'd love to talk, but we still have work to do."

Lucia nodded. She was about to walk away when Annabeth trudged over towards where they were standing. "What the hell was that?"

"I just saved your asses," Percy said. "Now I'm going to save Jason's ass."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but Percy was right. Jason won't be able to fend off the army by himself. "After we're done, we need to talk."

Percy just shrugged. Annabeth turned around and told the campers to join the forces on the hill as she followed suit.

Percy and Lucia were left alone, standing on the beach. "I'll see you there," Lucia said before rushing towards the hill.

Percy felt an unfamiliar feeling down his gut. It wasn't love, but something else. He couldn't really explain it.

When Percy reached the hill, the battle was almost over. The combined forces of the Roman and Greek demigods were no match for the monsters as most of them either fled or crumbled to dust.

Since he had nothing more to worry about, Percy ran away from the place. He didn't want to stay and meet Annabeth and the others.

With that, he disappeared like the wind.

**A/N: Got excited when I wrote this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Again, nothing else to say. Thanks for reading though!**

**Thamolwan Poopradubsil: Well, regardless of who you think that person might be, hope you don't spoil it.**

**TalentedTal420: Thanks! And I hope you like my other stories as well.**

**Guest: You're just feeding my ego right now. Thanks though!**

**Fangirl101: Cue the Linkin Park music.**

**DreamCatcher06: Yeah, gotta make it hard for the main guy.**

**Onwards!**

**Chapter 10**

Percy found his way back to his home behind the waterfall. There, he meets Zoe and Bianca. Bianca was a sleep and Zoe was busy . . . um, undressing.

"Hello?" Percy called. As he entered, he saw Zoe in her jeans and white tank top as she took her parka off.

When Zoe turned around, their eyes met.

At first, Percy thought she was going to lash out at Percy and was going to chase him to the ends of the earth while firing arrows at him. To his surprise, Zoe breathe out a sigh of relief and rushed to hug him

Zoe hugged Percy, to which he doesn't know how to respond. "Um,"

"Don't you ever do something like that ever again." Zoe said as she stepped away.

"Uh, sure." Percy said. His mind was still trying to figure out what happened. Zoe doesn't normally do that. She also doesn't normally hug people, especially males.

She seemed to know what he's thinking. "Oh, relax Percy." Zoe said. "I think of you as a friend."

Percy wasn't sure about that. Sure, Zoe might be gorgeous and beautiful but he wasn't sure he could be in a relationship with Zoe. After all, they're just friends. Why would he start having feelings for her?

Why would him having feelings for her at all is an option?

Why would that be a problem to anyone?

Percy shook those thoughts out of his head. Clearly, the exhaustion is getting to him. He'd fought an army. Of course he'd be tired.

"Oh and by the way," Zoe said as she sat down to watch the TV. "We found another relic."

"Where is it?" Percy asked. Zoe gestured at a ring on a table. The ring was silver, except for the embedded jewel on top of it which was bright pink. He picked it up and studied it. As he tried to put it on his finger, the ring expanded to his finger size. "What does it do?"

"Gaia said that it's called the Morph Ring." She said. "With a drop of blood from a person, you can look exactly like that person for a day."

"Cool," Percy said. He thought about trying its powers but considering that Bianca and Zoe were the only ones here, he decided against it. He went on and put it in storage. "Zoe, I'm heading to bed now."

"Sure," Zoe said. He heard the TV's volume being turned up as Percy crashed onto his bed.

Surely enough, he had dreams.

Percy stood at the familiar place of Mount Tam, where Atlas is holding up the sky. The darkened clouds swirl around on top of the mountain, where Atlas is straining to hold it up.

"What are you doing here?" Atlas bellowed in anger. Percy jumped. At first, Percy thought that the Titan General was talking to him. But then he realized that he wasn't.

"Is that your way of greeting a fellow relative?" A voice said around Atlas. Percy didn't really see who it was but whoever it was, it sounds . . . ancient. Percy have heard Kronos' voice and Gaia's voice.

This is something much more powerful. The sheer power coming from this thing's voice almost made Percy's head explode and this is in a dream.

"You . . ." Atlas sounds terrified. Percy didn't know who else could terrify Atlas. "Why are you here? You shouldn't be here!"

"Alas, here I am," The voice said. Percy's head was spinning. His knees buckled. Whoever this voice belongs to is way out of Percy's league. "And I am here to relieve you of your punishment."

"What are you talking about?" Atlas said frantically. "You can't do that! The gods made sure of it. If you free me, who's going to take the burden of the skies?"

The voice laughed manically. "Did I say I was going to free you?"

Then what happens next was too weird that Percy doubted he'd have the creativity to come up with it.

Atlas made choking sounds as the stomach area of his body starts to twist. It was like someone had used Photoshop to make Atlas contort like that. Then he started to twist again as his body got smaller and smaller, absorbed by a singular dot in the middle of his gut. Atlas made pained expressions but he didn't scream. Or most likely he couldn't.

It was gruesome to watch. As this was going on, the skies began to lower as the ground trembled. The heavens were going to fall on them.

As Atlas gets twisted and contorted into nothing, the sky stopped to descend. What remained of Atlas disappeared with the sound of a sharp snap of the fingers.

"Such weak and primitive creatures." The voice said. "As if Ouranos would dare descend in his current state."

Then Percy felt an icy grip around his throat. "And as for you, Perseus Jackson." The darkness seemed to surround Percy, leaving nothing but darkness around him. "Such an ignorant mind. So desperate. So easily manipulated."

Percy tried to struggle, but he couldn't move. He couldn't shout. He couldn't even see anything. He was helpless.

"Be careful where you tread, Perseus." The voice said. "And watch your back around my daughter. She'll be going for your head."

The darkness swallowed Percy as he woke up gasping for air. He felt suffocated. The air seemed heavier and felt harder to breathe in. His body was heating up and he was sweating heavily.

"Percy?" A familiar voice said next to him. "Are you okay?" He looked to his side to see Zoe half awake next to him.

Zoe wasn't really the type of woman to be sleeping next to a man, but after what Percy had been through, he hardly noticed. His head was spinning and his hands were shaking. He took off his shirt and sat on the floor as he leaned against the wall.

Everything seemed to be shaking. Percy needed something sturdy to hold on to. His heavy breathing gradually slowed. He could feel his body temperature dropping down. Percy didn't notice it before, but his skin was steaming.

That was no ordinary dream. Whatever power that was capable of doing something like that to Percy in his sleep was not someone he wanted to face. Percy was asleep and yet he felt like he'd been roasted inside out.

Zoe looked at him with concern. Her dark brown hair were messy from sleeping, to which Percy found was kinda beautiful.

Seeing Zoe's face made him calmer. The shaking in his hands reduced to a mere tremble. Percy took a deep breath. "Yeah," Percy said as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Zoe asked with genuine concern. "You don't look too good."

"It's okay." Percy took another deep breath. "I'm fine, honestly."

Zoe didn't look assured, but she wasn't going to argue. "Well try to keep it to yourself next time," She said before curling back on bed.

"Wait, why are you on my bed anyway?" Percy asked.

"Bianca already took the couch. Do you expect me to sleep on the floor?" Zoe asked.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried but you slept like a rock. I got tired of waking you up so I just sleep next to you."

"You do know that breaks your rule of not sharing the same bed, right?"

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures," Zoe said. "Besides, nothing happened. So relax about it."

Percy decided that he wasn't going to question any further. He put on his shirt and went outside. He needed some fresh air.

**Line Break**

After the battle, Reyna asked permission from Chiron for the Romans to stay in Camp Half-Blood for a few days. Leo's transporter didn't really work properly. Sure, most of the Romans made it, but some of them got transported to New Mexico.

Go figure.

"Anyway," Reyna said. "Leo said that it would probably take a few days for him to get it back up and running."

"My dear," Chiron smiled. "You are more than welcomed to stay here. But won't you be concerned about Camp Jupiter being left unguarded?"

Reyna smiled. "You don't have to worry about that. The veteran officers are there. They'll defend camp if they need to."

"Well, if that's the case then you're welcome to stay for as long as you need."

"Thank you, Chiron," Reyna said before the centaur cantered off. She turned towards Piper, who'd been expecting to use her charmspeak if Chiron had declined their offer. "I told you we don't need it."

Piper shrugged. "If I don't practice once in a while I'll get rusty."

"Go do it on Leo then." Reyna said as the girls walked towards the beach. "I thought you liked making him do stupid stuff."

"Yeah, but it gets boring after a while." Piper said. As they reached the beach, they noticed Annabeth who was sitting on the sand next to a purple haired girl that looked about her age. "Hey," Piper greeted.

"Hey," Annabeth smiled at both of them. "Oh, this is Lucia," Annabeth gestured at Lucia. "Lucia, this is one of the Roman praetors, Reyna. And she's Piper."

"What an intro," Piper rolled her eyes. She shook Lucia's hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Same," Lucia smiled as she shook both Piper's and Reyna's hand. "Well, I should get going. Chiron says he's going to teach me archery."

"Good luck then," Annabeth said. Lucia nodded with a smile before walking away.

"Never seen her before." Piper said. "Is she new?" Piper asked as both of them joined Annabeth.

"Yeah. She'd just arrived today." Annabeth said. "Hell of a fighter though."

"I saw her in battle," Reyna said. "Her style of fighting is . . . interesting."

"Yeah, she used fencing." Annabeth explained. "And she's a daughter of Poseidon as well."

Piper whistled. "So she's the one that created that hurricane during the fight?"

"That was Percy's doing." Reyna said with a bit of a grudge. "Did you guys find anything about him?"

"Other than him being one of the most powerful demigod I've ever met? Nothing." Annabeth said. "But is he really an enemy though? He did help us defend camp."

"But why though?" Piper asked. "None of us know who he is. He keeps popping up everywhere."

"Yeah and it annoys me." Reyna grumbled. "If there's one thing I hate, it's elusive enemies."

"We don't know if he's an enemy." Annabeth said.

"Well, we don't know if he's a friend either." Reyna argued. "We don't know him."

Annabeth wanted to argue back, but another voice stepped in. "But you should know him."

The trio of girls turned around to see Athena standing behind them wearing a white blouse and blue jeans.

"Mother," Annabeth muttered before kneeling. Piper and Reyna followed suit.

Athena smiled. "Rise up, heroes." They stood shakily. "I believe you've made a fair amount of encounter to this man." Athena waved her hand in the air. An image projection of Percy appeared in front of them.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "How did you know?"

"Well, my sister appears to have encountered him as well." Athena said as the image disappeared. "Needless to say, it didn't go well. After that, I did some research and found this."

She showed her palm to the girls and a metal disc shimmered into existence on her palm. It looked like a drink coaster with the shape of an owl pressed onto the surface.

"Use this and you will know who Percy Jackson is." Athena said.

"Um, is he a big deal?" Piper asked.

"Oh, very much." Athena said.

"How big?"

"Big as in 'we would all be dead if it wasn't for him'." Athena said. "Well, I'll leave you girls to it." She said before disappearing in a puff of gray smoke.

"Wow," Piper muttered. "That's pretty big. We should call the others so that they can have a look at this too."

"Annabeth," Reyna said, her tone was slightly on edge. "You noticed that too, didn't you?"

Annabeth nodded nervously. Her face was pale. "That wasn't my mother."

**Line Break**

Percy stood on the edge of a cliff that overlooked over a sea of trees. It's uncanny how remote this place is, despite it being a few hours away from the nearest civilization. The warm cool breeze blew his face gently. The sound of leaves rustling filled the calm atmosphere.

_Is something on your mind, Perseus?_ Gaia spoke in his head.

He wanted to tell Gaia about his dream. The ridiculously powerful entity in that dream was starting to make him nervous. He wanted to tell her everything, but for some reason he didn't.

"Just another dream." Percy said. "About Annabeth."

_Do you miss her?_

"Of course I do." Percy said sadly. "Our encounters are short and I'm sure she pretty much hates my guts."

_We must do this in secrecy, Perseus. This is so we can save them_.

"Yeah, I know." Percy sighed. "I just wish we can talk."

_I understand_. Gaia said solemnly. _I wish we could finish this early so you can go back to your old life_.

Percy shrugged. "To be fair, this kind of life isn't so bad."

_Hmm?_

"I mean, I'm helping my friends as I collect these relics. I can train myself. There's also Zoe with me along with Bianca." Percy said, not even realizing what he'd said.

_Ah, do you have feelings for her? _Gaia asked.

Percy frowned. "Who?" Gaia stayed silent, as if Percy should know the answer. "You mean Zoe?"

_You seem to be quite fond of her_. Gaia stated out. _Do you like her?_

"What? You're being ridiculous." Percy insisted though he didn't sound convincing. "I don't like her. I mean, I like her. But I don't like her like _that_."

_Are you sure? _Gaia asked.

"Well, no." Percy sighed as he sat down and dangled his feet on the edge of the cliff. "I can't say that I haven't found her . . . attractive, these past few days. When we were on a quest together a few years back, she'd been so determined on saving Artemis that we didn't really talk much. Plus, she scares me back then."

Percy took a deep breath. The evening sky was now turning to night. Percy could already the full moon. "Now that we've got the chance to talk more, I found that she's . . . um . . ." Percy couldn't find the right words for it.

_Perhaps you just miss the girl? _Gaia said. _Or are you having second thoughts?_

That really was a hard question. If Percy's being honest with himself, he really loves Annabeth. He really does. But this thing he has with Zoe is complicated. Was it love? Was it something else entirely? Percy didn't know what to call it.

"I don't know," Percy said sadly. "Maybe I'm just an idiot for thinking all this."

"I think it's normal," A voice said behind him. He turned around and paled when he see Zoe. The orange sky washed over her face to make it look like she'd been painted to perfection.

"Oh, Zoe," Percy struggled to find his words. "H-How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," Zoe smiled. "It was almost nighttime and you haven't returned, so I went looking for you."

"Oh," Percy said. "I'm just getting some fresh air." He stood up and brushed off the dirt on his jeans. Zoe took a few steps until she was now face to face with Percy. "Um, Zoe?"

"Yeah?" She said in a low voice. Percy could almost feel his heart beating against his chest.

Zoe looked at him with her volcanic black eyes. At first, Percy had always thought her eyes made her look unnerving, kinda similar to Annabeth's grey eyes.

Now, they both had that same seducing effect on Percy.

"I don't think that this is a good idea." Percy said. His mind was getting blurry by the moment. He could feel Zoe's breath on him.

"Don't think what is a good idea?" Zoe asked softly. Their faces were inches away. Zoe wrapped her arms around Percy's neck as Percy's hand automatically went around Zoe's waist.

Did he really want this?

He stared long into Zoe's eyes.

Fuck it.

Percy pulled Zoe into a deep and passionate kiss. For a minute everything was pure bliss. His head felt light and his stomach had butterflies in it. He felt like if an asteroid had struck the earth, he wouldn't have cared. He finally had something that he cared about more than his life.

As they pulled away, Zoe smiled and pulled him into an embrace, in which Percy returned happily. "Thank you." Zoe said. She leaned closer to his ear and whispered: "For making this so easy."

_SHLUCK!_

**A/N: Oh yeah, I'm a prick. DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNN!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: And so the mystery unravels. The continuation! But first, some replies.**

**ArthurShade: It rather is, isn't it?**

**SonOfHades1: Thanks for the support!**

**MasterTrident: I love long reviews. And nice bit of information there. Thanks for that. But in my defence, I don't know anything about fencing except for the things I googled. It just seemed like a cool way of fighting. But I appreciate your review, so thanks!**

**Guest (1): Um, too bad I guess?**

**Guest (2): You gotta think some more then.**

**Fangirl101: Ah, I see you're a fan of the other ships.**

**With that said, onwards!**

**Chapter 11**

**(Slight flashback)**

Rachel had never officially met the Hunters of Artemis before, except for Thalia. Now, they were in Rachel's front door where Artemis is staring at her dead in the eyes.

"Um, hi?" Rachel said nervously.

"M'lady," Thalia said calmly. "You're scaring her. Let me talk to her for a minute."

Thankfully, Rachel lived in a penthouse at the top of a building where the main lobby was enough to house a few dozens of immortal girls. Thalia and Rachel were in the kitchen, where Thalia was going to explain everything.

"Sorry bout that." Thalia said. "Artemis isn't really in the best of moods right now."

"I can tell," Rachel said. "Did something happen?"

Thalia bit her lower lip. "Annabeth told me you know this Percy guy?"

Rachel chuckled without humor. "I suppose you don't remember him as well, do you?"

Thalia shook her head. "I've never met him until a few days ago."

"Figures." Rachel said as she squiggled imaginary lines on the counter top. "I swear if I ever find him I'll stab him in the ear." She turned towards Thalia. "Did you remember how you got out of the pine tree, Thalia?"

Thalia frowned. "The Golden Fleece brought me back, remember?"

"Yes, but did you remember how the Golden Fleece got there in the first place?"

"Of course, Annabeth, Grover and . . . uh, someone brought it back." Thalia frowned. "Why does it all seem fuzzy?"

Rachel sighed. "Never mind." She said miserably. "Anyway, what's wrong with Artemis?"

"It's been a tough months for her." Thalia explained. "After the war with Gaia, Zeus told us to cleanup what's left of the army. It's been over a year and our job is still not done. She's getting tired and so are we."

"Must be tough," Rachel said. She really couldn't relate on how it is to be a demigod, but she could relate on having life being rough on you.

Thalia sighed. "With the job at hand not making things easy for her, she keeps having these dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"She's having dreams about Zoe," Thalia said. "She's our former lieutenant and basically the closest human being that has ever gotten close to becoming Artemis's BFF."

"Former lieutenant?"

"Yeah," Thalia said sadly. "She died in combat during a mission where we have to rescue Annabeth and Artemis from under the sky."

"Yeah, Percy told me about that." Rachel said. Thalia wanted to respond, but she stopped herself. If Percy was there, she didn't remember.

"So Artemis wanted to know if these dreams have some kind of meaning or whether that it's some sort of sign." Thalia explained. "Since you're the Oracle of Delphi, she figured you would know."

Rachel gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry, but I don't think I can help. Maybe she's just too tired? I don't know. Plus, a lot of things have been going on lately."

"Yeah, monster attacks have been ruthless." Thalia admitted. "I heard that Camp Half-Blood recently got attacked by a massive army."

"Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they made it." Thalia said. "Still, it's worrying."

"Yeah, it is." Rachel said. "Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"It's okay." Thalia said as she started to walk out of the kitchen. As she walks, a picture flew out of her pocket and onto the floor.

"Oh hey, you dropped this." Rachel picked it up and looked at it. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Whoops, sorry." Thalia said as she turned. "That's Zoe, by the way."

It's her. She's the one that Rachel has been seeing from her visions as well. The one with the bloody dagger next to . . .

"Oh gods," Rachel's body trembled as she collapsed to her knees. "Oh no."

"Rachel?" Thalia knelt next to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's Percy." Rachel said. "We've got to find him right now."

**Line Break**

Lucia was in the middle of having her dinner when the pain hit her. She gasped in pain as she crumpled to the floor. Her gut felt awful, as if someone had stabbed her with a hot flaming ice pick.

When she crumpled, the rest of the demigods rushed over towards her trying to help. Everything was blurry. The pain made it hard for her to focus.

"Send her to the infirmary!" She heard someone shouted.

"What happened?" Another one shouted.

"Make way!"

There were a lot of murmurings and whispering that sounded suspiciously like ghosts.

Lucia felt her body being laid down on a mattress. There were chattering all around her, but she couldn't focus. All of it was muffled, as if they were talking underwater.

The pain in her stomach was increasing by the moment. She'd never experienced anything like this before. If so, she was begging for it to stop.

That was when she blacked out.

**Line Break**

"Is she going to be okay?" Annabeth asked. She was the one who saw Lucia collapsing first.

"Yes," The son of Apollo, Will Solace, said. "But whatever that is causing this is from a different source."

"Is she cursed?" Jason asked. He'd helped carry Lucia to the infirmary. "Is it some form of magic?"

"Possibly." Will said. "For now, She needs rest. But unless you find out what causes this, then she's going to be in big trouble."

"Thanks, Will." Annabeth said worryingly before Will left. She turned her attention towards Jason. "Any ideas?"

Jason shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." Jason said. "Maybe it's a wound from the battle before?"

"Maybe," Annabeth said. For some reason, she's worried for this daughter of Poseidon. "Can water heal her?"

"Did you try?" Jason asked.

Annabeth stood up and grabbed a cup of water. She poured some of it lightly into Lucia's mouth. Instantly, her face regained color and her breathing steadied. Her eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" Lucia asked as she groaned in pain.

"You kinda passed out all of a sudden. Then you started muttering something about your brother."

Lucia gave a look of confusion. "My brother?" Lucia sat up groggily.

"Yeah. You said that your brother is in danger," Jason supplied. "You remember anything?"

"Not really," Lucia said. "Everything's fuzzy. All I remembered was this painful feeling in my stomach, like somebody had stabbed me. I remembered being carried here and then I blacked out."

Jason and Annabeth locked eyes with each other, like they were sharing a secret message. "Get some rest, Lucia." Annabeth said. "Maybe you'll remember more clearly after getting some sleep."

"I'm fine," Lucia said.

"You sure?" Jason asked. "Because it looks to me like-"

The sound of a conch horn filled the night sky. The trio went into alert. At first, they thought it was another attack. But then Piper popped her head into the infirmary.

"Your sister's here," She said to Jason. "Along with Artemis and Rachel."

_That can't be good. _Annabeth thought to herself. "Let's go," She said to Jason.

"Wait," Lucia said. "I'm coming too."

"You need rest, Lucia." Jason said.

"I'm fine," Lucia insisted. When she got up, Annabeth noticed a slight pained expression on her face, though she tried her best to hide it. "See?"

It seems that there was no changing her mind so Annabeth gestured her to come along.

When they went outside, Chiron was already there to greet Artemis and her Hunters.

The three of them walked up next to Chiron. "What brings you here, Lady Artemis?" Chiron asked with a smile.

Artemis smiled tiredly. "We're here for a quick break, Chiron. And there are some business I would like to indulge with a few of your students."

"Ah, of course. The Artemis cabin is always open for the Hunt." Chiron said. "And might I know who these students of mine that you have business with?"

Artemis changed her gaze towards the three of them, Jason, Annabeth and Lucia. "These three. That one especially." Artemis pointed at Lucia.

Chiron turned towards the trio. "I know you're tired and nervous, but Lady Artemis means you no harm." Chiron said. Annabeth and Jason had their fair share of experiences with Olympians, but not Lucia. Poseidon and Dionysus are probably the only gods she's met so far.

"Yeah, I'm good." Lucia said. She stepped forward and bowed at Artemis. Her Hunters left and went towards their cabin except for two people, Thalia and . . . Rachel? What's Rachel doing with the Hunt?

"Rise up, child." Artemis said. "We must talk somewhere private. Come." Artemis lead the five of them to the Big House.

Annabeth shot Rachel a look. _What are you doing with them?_

_I'll explain later_. Rachel mouthed.

This really can't be good.

**Line Break**

Percy saw nothing except for darkness. He tried moving but his body won't respond. He felt like he was floating in nothing. He couldn't hear anything. Not even his beating heart, that is if it's even beating.

_Is this death? _Percy thought to himself.

The last thing he remembered was getting stabbed by Zoe after telling her his true feelings.

That hurts.

Not the stab. The stab was painful, but being betrayed like that hurts. He thought he could trust Zoe. She had no reason to betray him. Or did she?

Zoe's dead because of Percy anyway. Maybe she holds some sort of vengeance towards Percy for it. Maybe she killed Percy just to get back at him.

Anyway, what's done is done. Percy was now dead and forgotten by the rest of his friends. He'd taken this stupid deal with Gaia and had ruined his past life for good. He doesn't even know if he'll ever get his old life back.

_What's the point . . ._ Percy thought to himself.

"To be fair," A voice echoed around him. "You were oblivious to a shit ton of cues."

Percy wanted to look around, but he couldn't move. Even if he could, he couldn't see anything either.

_Who's there? _Percy said in his mind.

"Relax, I'm getting you out." The voice echoed again. It was a female voice, but it sounds familiar.

_Show yourself!_

"For gods' sake, relax!" The voice said in annoyance. "It's not that easy. Gaia has swallowed you deep. That sounded wrong."

_What? What do you mean? _

"If you ask any more questions, I'm going to make you eat your own nose off." The voice said. This time, Percy stayed quiet. But it's kinda hard to stay quiet in your mind when thousands of questions are flying by your head.

Percy waited and waited. It felt like hours or maybe even minutes, but eventually, he heard a sound. It sounded like someone was digging the ground with their own bare hands.

Then, the darkness in front of him crumbled into a tiny hole as light shined through. "Aha!" The voice cried out. "Gaia's got you deep. Again, that sounded wrong."

The hole crumbled even more, as if the ceiling of an underground cavern is starting to cave in, letting the light from the surface through.

Percy's body suddenly felt lighter. He could move again. The light was shining from a hole straight above him, which was at least twenty feet long. From the other end, a woman looked through and grinned. Percy couldn't really see her face since the light was coming from her.

"Glad to see you're awake." The woman said. Percy didn't know how, but the woman stretched her hand. Even though the hole was like twenty feet long, Percy felt like he could reach her. He reached his hand out and he got yanked out of the hole.

Percy screamed in panic as he was sent flying to the air and landing roughly onto the ground. Every muscle in his body ached. He felt like he'd just woken up from a really crappy nap.

Percy stood up straight. He checked himself. "Wait, I'm alive?"

"Well, duh." The woman said. Now that he's at the surface, he could see the woman clearly.

She was probably in her early twenties. Her skin is fair and seemed to be radiating energy. She wore a black beanie cap with a ponytail of her white hair sticking out from the back. She wore a black and white checkered flannel shirt with white jeans. The weirdest thing about her were her eyes. They were black as midnight. Not just the irises, but the whole eye. It's like they were made out of obsidian.

"Who are you?" Percy asked.

"I'm glad you asked." The woman extended her hand. "Chaos, daughter of . . . well, no one."

"Chaos." Percy repeated.

"Yep, that's me." The woman said. "Though that might not be a good conversation name. What's another name that suits me?"

"You're Chaos." Percy repeated again.

"Yes, we've been through that. I just need another name."

"Chaos as in, _chaos_. Like, the first thing ever."

"Yes, that's the one." Chaos rolled her eyes. Well, at least Percy think she did. It's impossible to tell her eye movements because all of them were black. "Will you ever get it through your thick head?"

_Okay_, Percy said. _I'm just having a conversation with the very first being to have ever existed in this entire universe. Cool._

"You're damn right it's cool." Chaos said. "Now, I need to decide what my temporary name would be."

Percy took a few deep breaths and kept his composure. "Okay," Percy muttered to himself. "Why would you need a temporary name? Just stick with Chaos."

Again, Chaos rolled her eyes. And again, Percy's just assuming she rolls her eyes. "Like I said, Chaos isn't really a good name to start a conversation with. Can you imagine? _Look how much chaos Chaos is causing_. That's annoying."

Percy decided it was best not to argue with a deity that created the likes of Tartarus and Nyx. "You have a point." Percy said nervously. Percy had met with Nyx and Tartarus before. Both of them showed how incredibly powerful they are. Both of them were way out of Percy's league.

But Chaos showing up as a twenty something year old woman is just . . . unnerving. She gives off a feeling similar to a candy sized nuclear bomb. Sure, it might be the size of a peppermint, but it's still a nuclear bomb. Who knows how much damage that thing would make.

"You have interesting ways of making analogies," Chaos stated out.

"Uh, can you stop reading my mind?" Percy realized it might not be the best move to defy Chaos. "Please?" He added.

"Give me a temporary name first." Chaos said.

Percy racked his brain. He's not one for giving names. Percy had once tried to think of a name for Ladon, the dragon who guards the Golden Fleece. Chiron wasn't too keen on calling the dragon Giant Wool Defender.

"Seriously?" Chaos asked. "Giant Wool Defender?"

Percy tried to think of something. "How about, Sarah?"

"Um, no. Too modern."

"Cleo?"

"Too Egyptian."

"Lucile?"

"Too old."

Percy groaned. Then, he remembered a word that he'd studied in Latin. "How about Nihil?"

This intrigues Chaos's interest. "Nihil? Huh. What does it mean?"

"Nothing."

"Well, it has to have a meaning."

"Yeah, it's nothing."

"Why should I wear a name that means nothing?"

"I mean the meaning of the word Nihil is nothing."

Chaos thought about it for a moment. "Oh, nothing. That makes a whole lot of sense now." She smiled. "Very well, my temporary name will now be Nihil. Thank you, Perseus Jackson."

Percy nodded. "Anyway, what was I doing underground anyway?"

"Ah, yes. Forgot about that." Nihil said. "I shall explain."

**Line Break**

In the Big House, they sat around the fireplace with the head of a jaguar sticking out above it. It's asleep for now.

Near the fire, Artemis looked weary and tired. Annabeth had never seen a goddess look . . . weak. But that's how Artemis looks right now. Thalia wasn't doing too good either.

"Um, so, Lady Diana-" Jason said but was interrupted with Artemis grunting in pain.

"Please," Artemis said. "Refer to me in my Greek form. The headache won't help with my situation right now."

"Forgive me, Lady Artemis." Jason said nervously. "I was just asking. Um, why are you here?"

Artemis steadied herself and fixed her eyes on Lucia. "Do you know of a demigod named Percy Jackson?"

Annabeth resisted the urge to throw her hands up in exasperation. It seems that they can't get through one day without anyone mentioning his name.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, he was there when we were defending this camp from an invasion. We fought side by side briefly. Other than that, I don't know anything about him."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Lucia gazed around the room, as if she's wondering if this was some sort of test. "Yeah. I mean, I've just arrived at camp. I barely know anyone here."

Artemis nodded slightly before turning towards Rachel. "Well? Is she the one you're looking for?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes," She said. "She's Percy's twin."

The silence that followed that room was unsettling. The fire crackled quietly. If someone had dropped a feather here, Annabeth was sure that she'll hear it.

"Wait," Lucia said, finally breaking the silence. "You mean, Percy Jackson? He's my brother?"

Rachel nodded. "Believe me, this surprises me more than you. I've known him for a while and he'd never mentioned that he had a sister."

"Why didn't Poseidon mention this to me before?" Lucia asked.

"The same reason why no one knows Percy." Rachel said sadly. "No one remembers him."

"Rachel is convinced that all of us used to be friends with Percy." Thalia explained. "But for some reason, we've forgotten about him."

"That's crazy." Jason said. "I think I would remember someone like him."

"Really?" Rachel said. "Jason, you remember the Prophecy of Seven a year ago, right?"

Jason nodded. "How could I forget?"

"List of each demigod that's part of the Prophecy of Seven." Rachel said.

Jason counted with his fingers. "There's me, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, Frank and Hazel." Jason said.

"That's only six, Jason." Rachel said. Then, she turned towards Annabeth. "Annabeth? Do you remember all members of the prophecy?"

It's impossible for her to forget. She'd been through so much with them. She'd been through what could be called a living hell with them. She fought alongside them at Greece. Of course she'd remember.

But when she counted back, only six names popped up in her head.

"Wait, that's . . . odd." Annabeth said. Annabeth for sure remembered that the prophecy a year ago was called the Prophecy of Seven, so there had to be seven demigods.

And Annabeth was sure that there were seven of them on board the Argo II.

Rachel nodded in confirmation. "Percy's one of the demigods in the Prophecy of Seven."

"Impossible." Annabeth said. But she knew that it's not. Besides, the disc that the fake Athena gave her . . . She, Reyna and Piper had watched it. She's still trying to wrap her head around it, but what Rachel had said matches exactly what was on that disc.

"Okay, so Lucia is Percy's twin and Percy is obviously someone important." Artemis said impatiently. "Where does that leaves us?"

Rachel nodded. She took a deep breath. "Whatever Percy's doing, he's doing it with someone."

"Yeah, we saw her at New Rome." Annabeth said.

"It's Zoe Nightshade." Rachel said. "And she's going to come after us."

**A/N: Finished. Well, leave your piece of mind in the reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: And so, it continues.**

**Chapter 12**

Turns out, the very first deity in existence likes a cheeseburger.

Nihil was happily munching through her burger while Percy ate in nervous silence. It's hard to really grasp his head around the fact that he's eating cheeseburgers with Chaos.

Luckily, she'd turned her eyes into normal eyes so she didn't seem that creepy.

"You mortals come up with new inventions almost every day," Nihil said. "But I swear to me that cheeseburgers are the best one yet."

"Do primordials like you even eat?" Percy asked. He mentally smacked himself in the forehead. That was a stupid question.

Nihil laughed. "Technically, we don't get hungry. So we never really have to be worried about eating. But I just love the taste of food." Nihil said as she took another bite off her burger.

Percy nodded absently. Based on everything Nihil had explained, Percy was sure that he's doomed, but it was still kind of a lot to take in.

First off, Gaia betrayed him. How did that not occur to him, he had no idea. Maybe the idea of saving his friends blinded him into following Gaia's orders. She'd told Percy to get these relics in order to get the powers for herself. She intends to absorb the relics' energy to fuel her own powers.

Secondly, Zoe is working with Gaia, which brought a bitter taste to Percy's mouth. Percy didn't know why, but apparently Zoe wants to work with Gaia. As for Bianca, he didn't know. As far as Percy knows, Bianca might be working with Gaia as well. This was Gaia's whole plan. Both of them were raised through the Doors of Death just to mess with him.

"You're pretty smart," Nihil said as she licked the leftover cheese off her fingers.

"I thought we agreed not to read my mind?" Percy asked.

"You're right," Nihil held her hands up. "But you're just so easy to read."

"Please don't."

Nihil chuckled. Then, her face turned serious. "So, what are you planning to do now?"

Percy stared far into the table. "To be honest, I don't know. I found out that the girl I have feelings for was actually working for Gaia. Then I found out that Gaia's actually lying. And all of my friends don't remember me at all. On top of that, I'm eating cheeseburgers with and all powerful deity." Percy said sadly. "So, I don't know what to do."

Nihil pouted. "Poor Perseus. Lost from the yellow brick road. No one remembers him. No one wants to play with him. He's all alone." Then she slapped Percy hard on the cheek. "Wake up, doofus."

"What?" Percy was shocked. It was more of a _'did Chaos just call me doofus?' _kind ofshock rather that _'did I just survived that slap?' _kind of shock.

"You're being pathetic. Not miserable, not sympathetic, just plain pathetic." Nihil said angrily. "You are a hero. You were not made to become this pathetic human being."

"But I-"

"If you insist on becoming this . . . weakling, I shall choose another apprentice for my plans." Nihil stood up and was about to leave but Percy stopped her.

"Wait, apprentice?" Percy asked.

Nihil raised an eyebrow. "Interested?"

_Slightly_, Percy thought mentally. "Why?"

"Look, I don't really care about Gaia or Olympus." Nihil said calmly. "I've watched this sort of thing happen from time to time. But I can't have her going rampant and out of control. That would destroy everything as we know it. When that happens, everything would cease to exist. When everything cease to exist, nothing is there anymore. I would have to rebuild everything from scratch."

Percy stared at Nihil blankly. "So, you want to stop Gaia?"

Nihil rolled her eyes. "Obviously." She said with exasperation. "You mortals might be puny, but you have your moments."

"Okay, so why don't you stop her?"

Nihil laughed once. "Hah!" She said. "While you demigods eat all the cheeseburgers you want? No way." Percy wanted to argue that it's not like that, but he just kept quiet. "I have the power to stop Gaia. Unfortunately, I'd have to use all of my powers to do so."

"And that would be bad because . . ."

Nihil sighed. "Have you ever wondered why these primordials, like Tartarus, Nyx, Hemera, Erebos, all those douchebags never really appear in physical form?"

"Well, they're technically an embodiment of their own powers, right? As in, Gaia is like the earth. So the earth is Gaia's physical form."

"That's partly correct," Nihil said. "But they can barely do anything in that form without being conscious. Do you know that these primordials have the ability to manifest into anything? And that they have the power to squish anything like a bug?"

"Um, yeah."

"But they can't. They're stuck in their current form of embodiment. Do you know why?" Nihil gestured at herself. "It's all thanks to me."

"So what you're saying is," Percy said. "You're currently holding back the powers of every primordial in existence?"

Nihil nodded. "If they're provided with a consciousness, then they have enough power to threaten the Greek world. Like what happened a year ago with you Romans and Greeks. But if let their powers free-" Nihil whistled. "It'll be the end of everything. You know how if you defeat a primordial, their embodiment stays? Like when Ouranos was sliced up, the sky is still there?" Percy nodded. "Well, that's because their full powers are still here. Only their consciousness is scattered."

"Uh huh," Suddenly, Percy's stomach didn't feel like staying inside his body.

"So I'm keeping these primordials at bay, and it's taking everything I have." Nihil said. "Normally, I'd tell the Olympians to stop Gaia for me, but then they'll issue a prophecy and then send you guys to do it anyway. So I figured it's better to deliver the message myself."

Percy didn't even realize that his hands were trembling. "How do I know you're not lying? Like Gaia did?"

Nihil laughed. "Now you're learning. So you don't trust me, do you?"

"Slightly." Percy said. It's probably not the smartest thing to not trust a deity like Chaos, but after what happened, Percy was willing to take his chances.

"Okay then." Nihil said. She snapped her fingers. "There."

Percy looked around to see if anything has changed. "What?"

"You'll see soon enough." Nihil said with a sly smile. "Now then, shall I discuss with you the terms of your apprenticeship?"

**Line Break (the same time with Percy's part)**

Lucia was sitting at the bottom of the Camp Half-Blood lake, trying to cope with what she'd just heard.

So apparently, she has a twin brother. How does that work, Lucia had no idea. They don't even share the same last name and from what they've described about Percy, they're not the same age. Lucia was fifteen (about to turn sixteen) while Percy's seventeen.

Annabeth had explained that since she's from the Lotus Casino, she'd been stuck in time until Poseidon brought her out. But why she was there in the first place, Lucia didn't know.

Aside from the times she'd spent in the Lotus Casino, everything before that was a blur. She'd get glimpses of her past in her mind, but they disappeared as quickly as they popped up.

The bottom of the lake is beautiful. The surface of the water was lit up by the sun, creating a beautiful luminous glow on the bottom of the lake. At the bottom, the floor was filled with plants and rocks with fishes swimming all around her. A few of the nereids greeted her, but they paid her no mind.

As a daughter of Poseidon, she could breathe normally underwater. Her clothes didn't get wet and she could propel herself. The standard powers as a child of the sea god.

Being underwater had always done well in clearing her thoughts. She liked being underwater. Though previously, she couldn't stay very long since she didn't know that she could breathe underwater and had held her breath every time she went under. But now, she could stay for as long as she liked.

Or at least until someone calls for her name.

"Lucia!" Lucia heard a voice called from the surface. It was muffled but Lucia knew that it was Annabeth.

Lucia sighed as she swam upwards. As she broke the surface of the water, she found Annabeth raising an eyebrow at her.

"What's wrong?" Lucia asked.

"You do know we have a meeting in a few minutes, right?" Annabeth said. "And as the head counsellor for Poseidon's cabin, you are required to attend."

"I don't wanna," Lucia whined.

"Well, that's how it is. Since you're the only person in Poseidon's cabin, then you're the head counsellor." Annabeth said as she offered her hand.

Lucia made a grumpy expression but she still took Annabeth's hand as Lucia got out of the lake.

Both of them were making their way towards the Big House, passing nearby campers who were either resting, practicing combat, or throwing magic balls at each other that can turn them into critters. Lucia just hoped that they weren't in the crossfire. She'd hate to attend her first counsellor meeting as a cricket.

As soon as Annabeth stepped foot onto the Big House's front porch, she froze. Lucia didn't notice so she bumped into her.

"Ow!" She grunted. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth didn't respond. She looked like she was frozen in place. Her face showing no signs of life.

Lucia looked around to see that everything was frozen in place. The campers, the magic balls, the rogue Frisbee that seems to be flying towards Lucia. Everything was frozen in place, as if someone had hit the 'pause' button on everything.

"Ah, there she is." A female voice said. Lucia turned around to see a girl, probably a bit older than Lucia. She had white hair that was tucked under a black beanie with a ponytail sticking out of it. She looked like someone who'd stepped out from a black and white TV show, with her fair and yet pale complexion and black eyes. Her black and white checkered flannel shirt fit loosely onto her body. "The twin."

"Who are you?" Lucia asked. She reached for her rapier, but it wasn't there.

"Now, let's all just calm down." The girl said. "You don't want to go fighting with a primordial now, don't you? That brings for some bad juju."

"Primordial?"

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention. I'm Chaos." She extended her hand with a grin.

"Chaos." Lucia repeated. "Like, the very first being in existence."'

"Yep, that's me," Chaos grinned. "Or you can call me Nihil. Personally, I prefer the latter."

"Chaos. Nihil." Lucia repeated the words like an enchantment.

Chaos - or Nihil, whatever - sighed. "You're just like your brother."

"My . . . brother?"

"Yeah. Percy Jackson. You know. Son of Poseidon, battled Kronos, saved Olympus, went to Greece to fight Giants, blah blah blah." Nihil waved it off. "I'm guessing you already know that he's your twin brother."

"Um, that's what Rachel said."

"Ah, yeah. That makes sense." Nihil scratched her head. "I always forgot that the Delphi has this immunity to memory magic. Being dead does that to you."

"Okay, time out." Lucia made a 'time-out' gesture with her hands. "What is actually going on here? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm glad you remind me." Nihil grinned. "You see, I'm currently with your brother right now."

"Percy?"

Nihil nodded. "Don't ask how I'm at two places at once." Lucia wasn't planning to because since Chaos was an all powerful being, being at several places at once seemed like a minor feat for her. "I'm going to need your help."

Lucia almost laughed. The all powerful being, Chaos, needs _her _help?

"Yeah, I don't believe it either," Nihil said as if she was reading Lucia's mind. "I was." Nihil said again with a smug grin.

Lucia made a mental note to keep her thoughts in check near Chaos.

"Yeah, don't bother." Nihil said.

Lucia sighed in surrender. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to bring that Annabeth girl to meet Percy." Nihil said. "You can bring anyone else, but she's the important one."

"Why do you need me for this?" Lucia asked. "I mean, you could've just talked to her the way you're talking to me right now."

Nihil smiled. "Oh, because she won't believe me." Nihil said. "Plus, I doubt she's able to do anything rational after this."

"After what?" Lucia asked. Chaos snapped her fingers as she disappeared. The snap was so sharp and loud that Lucia's ears hurt.

The time unfroze. Lucia immediately remembered and caught the Frisbee that was flying straight at her.

"That was close," Lucia pretended as if nothing happened, which was difficult. She looked at Annabeth to see that she's still frozen in place. "Annabeth?"

"Oh gods . . ." She muttered. "How . . . Oh no. Percy. Oh no, no, no." She collapsed to her knees. "Oh, Percy. How could you?" She muttered. Then she turned towards Lucia. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed. "We need to find him. We need to find Percy now."

**Line Break**

To think that Percy would receive a part of Nihil's powers on a helipad about sixty stories from the ground was . . . weird.

"If you're wondering why we're up here," Nihil said. "It's because you're gonna need the space."

"Uh huh," Percy said as he shivered. The coldness of the night was seeping through his skin. The wind was blowing gently and it didn't help with the fact that it's cold. Percy was trembling but he wasn't sure if it's from the cold or the anxiousness.

Percy had taken Nihil's offer to be her apprentice. She'll give him a small part of her powers so that he could go against Gaia, but he's gonna go through a lot of pain. Percy was used to pain. So he decided to accept. In order to save the world and his friends, he accepted.

Besides, how painful can it be? He'd survived a swim through the Styx and some nasty poisons during their trip to Greece to fight the Giants. How bad can accepting Nihil's powers be?

Alongside having this power, he now serves Chaos. Not Olympus, not Gaia, but Chaos. On one side, if the gods ever decided to ask him to do a quest he can always tell them to fuck off. On the other, it's Chaos. Who knows what kind of things Chaos will ask him to do.

"Okay, I feel like I should mention this," NIhil said as she stood at the edge of the helipad. Percy stood right in the middle of the giant 'H'.

"Mention what?"

"Just so you know that if you don't make it, you're going to dissolve into nothing." Nihil said.

"Wait, what?"

"Prepare!" Nihil announced. She held out her hand straight at Percy and muttered some words that were too quiet for Percy to hear. Maybe it's just Percy's anxiety, but the atmosphere seemed to get darker and heavier. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the wind started to pick up.

"Are you sure that this is-" Percy was interrupted by Nihil striking him with a black lightning bolt.

At first, he felt nothing. He watched as the bolt hit his chest, linger for a few seconds and then disappear. He stood there, waiting for it to hurt, but it didn't.

Nihil walked over towards him. Her face was grim.

"Hey, that didn't hurt at all." Percy said with relief but Nihil's expression made Percy uneasy.

"For what it's worth," Nihil said softly. "I'm sorry for this." Then she handed Percy a piece of gum wrapped in golden plastic. "This will ease up the pain."

"What are you talking ab-" Percy then screamed in agony as something inside of him burned. It felt like every drop of blood inside his body had turned to acid and was starting to eat him, slowly melting through everything.

Percy's eyes widened. All he could see was red. The veins on his body felt like it's about to burst. He felt like someone is sliding hot iron inside his bones, with the iron getting hotter by the seconds.

Remember when he said that how bad can this be?

It was bad.

It was way worse than anything he'd ever experienced. For a moment, he actually wished that he'd die. He wished that someone killed him so that this pain and misery would stop. The pain was unforgiving.

Percy screamed at the top of his lungs as the floor seemed to tremble. He twisted and turn on the tarmac, but nothing would make the pain go away. He barely noticed that it was starting to rain heavily. Percy hoped the water would make it disappear, but it did nothing.

Again, Percy screamed. His scream was accompanied by the sound of a thunder booming loudly across the sky as lightning flashed around him.

His visions started to blur out. He couldn't think straight. He barely remembered his name was or why was he in this torment.

He smacked the ground with his fist in order to distract his body from the pain it's going through. He punched the ground again and again, and yet it wasn't enough. The pain made it hard to breathe. His eyes were teary. Only one single thought popped into his head.

Annabeth.

Percy's body then became limp. He was still very much conscious and in so much pain, but his body couldn't withstand it. It gave up on Percy, leaving Percy tormented in this shell of a body.

He wanted to scream. He wanted the pain to stop. But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. All he can do is stare into the sky, feeling this immense pain through his body.

Then he felt his head being moved. His vision was getting blurry. Percy hoped he'd pass out. Anything was better than this continuous torture. Percy then felt his head being laid on something soft. A sprawl of blonde hair appeared into his field of vision.

"It's going to be okay, Percy." Annabeth sobbed. "Come back to me, please. I remember you. Please come back."

Luckily, he got his wish as he passed out from the pain.

**A/N: Shakalaka boom.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Have some news for you guys at the end of the chapter, so yeah. Anyway, questions!**

**Ronnie R15: You'd be surprised.**

**Jodanfritz10: I know right?**

**Fangirl101: Someone's excited.**

**TalentedTal420: It's okay, thanks, and muahahaha.**

**SPQR-Alan: I still have a lot to learn, but glad you enjoyed it and thanks!**

**DaughterofAthena223: Glad to see you enjoyed it!**

**And now, onwards!**

**Chapter 13**

It came back to Annabeth like a flood. Years worth of memories and emotions overwhelmed her in the matter of seconds.

Percy Jackson, the person Annabeth had madly fallen in love with and started dating when they were sixteen. They had been at war with the Giants and when it was over, Percy disappeared for a year before showing up again with no one remembering who he is. Annabeth couldn't believe that she didn't remember him when she saw him.

She thought to herself about what Percy's been going through, his friends not remembering him and he's probably on some stupid dangerous quest again for the last year. That must've been hard. Even for someone as strong as Percy, it couldn't have been easy.

With all that emotions coming in at once, Annabeth's knees felt wobbly and collapsed. She realized that she'd been crying and had been muttering to herself. She felt bad for Percy.

Lucia called her name. "Annabeth?"

Annabeth looked at her sea green eyes. Now that she think about it, Lucia does resemble Percy a lot. "We need to find him. We need to find Percy now."

**Line Break**

Annabeth, Lucia and Rachel were on a helicopter, heading towards the city. According to Lucia, Percy was about to apply for an apprenticeship with Chaos, or Nihil. Whatever that meant, it couldn't be good.

As they flew, the winds were whipping fast and hard. The sky was darkening as thunder rumbled in the distance. Something is happening and it's something big. Annabeth hadn't been able to stop crying ever since she got her memory back.

They flew for what seems like forever, until Rachel spotted something on the rooftop of a building. "There!" She pointed.

Two people were standing on a helipad. One of them was a white haired girl who Annabeth assumes was Nihil, based on Lucia's description, and the other one seems to be Percy . . . who was screaming so loud in pain that the three of them can hear him over the sound of the helicopter.

"Get us down there!" Rachel told the pilot. The pilot gave them the thumbs up as the helicopter descends towards the helipad. The helicopter wasn't a big one so it didn't take up so much space.

As the helicopter landed, Annabeth rushed towards Percy. She cradled his head one her lap. She sobbed at the sight of how pale he looked. His skin was feverish as he was drenched in sweat. His lips were quivering and pale, along with the color of his skin. Annabeth didn't want to say it, but he looked . . . dead.

Annabeth hugged his head lightly. "It's going to be okay, Percy." She sobbed. "Come back to me, please. I remember you. Please come back."

Then, Percy's eyes closed.

"No, no, no, don't die on me." Annabeth cried as she hugged him. Then, she turned towards Nihil. "Help him!"

"I assume you are Annabeth," Nihil smiled. "Now, please be seated." Nihil waved her hand and a couch appeared in the middle of the helipad as she sat on a three legged stool.

"Stop messing around!" Annabeth snapped. "He's dying! Help him!"

"I'd watch your tone when you speak with me, demigod," Nihil said with a dangerous tone. "Despite my looks, I really do have a short fuse."

Lucia walked over towards Annabeth. "Calm down, Annabeth." Lucia said. "She'll help us."

"Of course I will," Nihil said as if it was obvious. "Now sit."

The three of them sat on the couch, which was more comfortable than it looks but Annabeth was too distraught to keep her mind safe. All he wanted was for Percy to be safe, no matter what it takes.

"Yes, yes, calm down Annie." Nihil said in exasperation.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Percy's safe." Nihil explained. "The worst part's over. Now he just needs some rest. It'll probably be a while before he wakes up again, but he's fine for now."

"For now?" Rachel asked.

"Ah yes, let me explain." Nihil said. "As Lucia has probably told you, I am Chaos. Yes, that Chaos. The one that existed before anything, that's me. But you can call me Nihil."

Nothing, Annabeth thought to herself. Her name means nothing in Latin.

"Very good, Annabeth." Nihil said. "It does mean nothing."

"Wait, you can read our minds?" Annabeth asked.

Nihil shrugged. "It's more like your minds speak up to me like a speaker. I can't help it."

Annabeth put a mental note to herself to watch what she's thinking around Nihil.

"Yeah, that won't work." Nihil said with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"Anyway," Lucia said. "What are you and Percy doing here?"

"To understand this story, we must go back to the point on where Percy wiped all of your memories." Nihil said.

"You mean, a year ago?" Annabeth said.

Nihil touched her nose and pointed at Annabeth, the way you do when someone's guess is correct when playing _Charades_.

"A year ago, when you guys were fighting Gaia and almost beat her, she deployed her contingency plan should she lose the battle." Nihil explained. "Knowing Percy's fatal flaw, she'd convinced Percy that a big threat is coming that's going to destroy the human race as he knows it. Being the noble hero he is, he took the offer in exchange of wiping any memories about him on everyone."

Annabeth wanted to say that's stupid, but it sounded like something Percy would do. She wiped a tear off her eye. "What did he do?"

"He's been collecting relics from all over the world." Nihil said. "One example would be that coin that he stole from you and his sword, Anaklusmos."

"For what?" Lucia asked.

"I'm getting there." Nihil said patiently. "These relics contain powers, some of them rivals the powers of a minor god even. By collecting a bunch of them, Gaia hopes to use the powers from the relics to perform a once-in-a-lifetime resurrection ceremony, in which she'll be fully awake again without having to wait for such a long time."

Annabeth stared longingly at Percy's calm and peaceful face despite being deathly pale. "But why didn't he tell us about it?" Annabeth asked. "Why do it in secret?"

"Percy was convinced that in order to collect these things, he needed to do it alone. He couldn't risk you guys being in another quest. After your battle with Gaia, you needed the break." Nihil explained.

Annabeth wanted to be angry at Percy for being so selfish and reckless. For doing this stupid thing by himself. But the emotion of longing and care for him made that anger go away.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

Nihil took a deep breath. "Now, we wait for him to wake up. He'll have much to learn to be able to wield my powers."

"Wait, _your _powers?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I know you're very powerful. Probably the most powerful being I've ever met. But no demigod could handle what your powers could offer them. They'll be disintegrated."

"What do you mean?" Lucia asked.

"It's like a balloon." Annabeth explained. "Balloons are only made to withstand certain amounts of air inside of them. Well, similar to demigods, we can only withstand certain amount of powers. If there's too much power inside of us, well, balloon goes pop."

Lucia shuddered at the thought.

"Don't worry about Percy," Nihil assured them. "He'll survive the process."

"How can you be so sure?" Rachel asked.

"Psh," Nihil grinned. "Because I said so. What other guarantee do you want besides from the words of Chaos itself?"

She had a very good point. "But-" Rachel wanted to argue but Nihil interrupted.

Nihil wagged her finger. "Enough for today's QnA. Percy needs some rest and you girls need it too."

"But we're not-"

"Sleep." Nihil said as she waved her hand. The girls' eyelids suddenly got heavy as they fell asleep on the couch.

**Line Break**

Percy woke up in the middle of a green meadow. The sky was bright blue and cloudy, but it wasn't hot. It was more . . . chilling. Like the air right before midnight.

The meadow was empty and flat. Percy looked around to see that the meadow seems to go on forever, with no end in sight.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was being in tremendous amount of pain.

And Annabeth.

It was all a bit blurry, but he was sure Annabeth was there. Percy stood up, but his feet felt wobbly and he fell down on his butt.

"What the hell . . ." He muttered to himself. He tried standing up again, but it felt like standing on quicksand. He felt as if the ground was constantly moving, even though it was clearly stationary.

He felt heavy too, as if someone had strapped him with a two hundred pound vest made of lead.

Percy struggled as he sat up. His body felt different. It was as if he'd gone through a really weird growth spurt. He studied his arms to find that he'd become more lean and muscular. He'd been muscular before, but not like this. He lifted his shirt and almost yelped in surprise.

His abs were defined and toned into a six pack. Percy barely had a two pack, let alone six. Percy felt like he was in the body of a strong rock climber.

"Admiring yourself, Percy?" A voice said behind him.

Percy turned around to see Nihil grinning at him.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Some side effects from my powers," Nihil said. "Your body needed to be stronger to host my powers."

"So your powers basically give me super steroids?"

Nihil shrugged. "Better than disintegration. Besides, you look good. I bet the ladies would have a hard time getting their eyes off you now."

Percy blushed. "Yeah, well, I'm not available." Percy muttered. "Where are we anyway?"

"Ah yes. This is an empty field."

"I see that."

Nihil grinned. "It's the space where I usually test out some of my new creations before I send them to Earth."

"Why do you test them here?"

Nihil shrugged. "Some creations don't really work that well. They tend to lead towards the destruction of your planet. Remember Typhon? My fault."

"Wait, I thought Typhon was the son of Echidna and Tartarus?"

"Yeah, rumors spread effectively if it comes from Chaos herself." Nihil winked. "Anyway, the reason I brought you here is so that you can get used to your new powers without Gaia interrupting us."

"She's the Earth. There's no place on Earth that's hidden from her."

"Aw," Nihil pouted. "Such simple minds. Lucky for you, we're not on Earth. We're on a little space I created just for myself. No one can enter here, not even Gaia or Tartarus, without my permission. It's not like they can find this place either."

Percy replied with a simple: "Oh."

Nihil then clapped her hands. "Well, after you're done admiring yourself, you should test out your powers. Don't worry about destroying this place, it happens often. And try to be quick, okay? Your sister and girlfriend are worried sick and it's annoying me."

Percy let the words sank in before he replied. "Wait, sister? And Annabeth?"

Nihil rolled her eyes. "Yes, Lucia and Annabeth. Oh, and the Oracle of Delphi is with them too."

"Rachel?"

"That one." Nihil said. "I restored their memories, so they remember everything. So, you might want to go back quickly."

That made Percy more determined. "When can I leave?"

"As soon as you can defeat my test subject." Nihil pointed towards nothing but empty air. But as soon as she pointed, a figure formed out of the darkness. It was a humanoid figure with no features. No face, no hair, nothing. It looked like a black crash test dummy. "Meet Dummy."

"Um, hi."

"She's been my favourite test subjects for all of my creations. You'd be surprised at how resilient she is."

"Wait, she?"

Nihil nodded. "Male creations tend too . . . malfunction. Maybe I'm just biased." Nihil shrugged. "Anyway, she's gonna help you train and get used to your powers."

"How long would that take?"

"Depends on how quickly you can catch up." Nihil grinned. "Good luck!" She said before disappearing in a gust of air, leaving Percy with Dummy.

"I suppose you're not much of a talker, are you?" Percy asked.

To his surprise, even without a mouth, Dummy replied. "My purpose is to serve Chaos."

"Oh. Um, same here."

"I am Dummy. My purpose is to serve Chaos." Dummy repeated.

"Uh, you said that."

"Dummy is my name. My purpose is to serve Chaos."

"Okay, this isn't going anywhere." Percy said. Without warning, Dummy lunged straight at him.

**Line Break**

Jason was heading towards Bunker Nine, where Leo was working on his transporter. It's been a few days so it should've been finished by now. He just hoped the transporter won't accidentally bring the whole legion to Antarctica.

As Jason trudged through the forest, he felt a sudden chill down his spine. It was as if the temperature had dropped suddenly. It's morning, but the forest seemed chilly and cold. The noises of bugs and animals stopped.

A few meters ahead of Jason, he could hear the sound of what he thought was ice cracking. His breath steamed. The atmosphere darkened.

Jason brought out his sword, preparing for a fight. He wanted to contact the others, but he was curious about what's happening.

He slowly walked forward where the air felt thicker and colder. There was the sound of a river flowing to his right.

The forest was eerily quiet, which made Jason nervous. If it's a monster, he wouldn't have been nervous.

He walked forward until he stumbled upon a lake, which was frozen for some odd reason. It's like, the middle of August.

Jason peeked around the tree to see in the middle of the frozen lake, two girls were having a standoff.

One of them wore what looked like a Hunter of Artemis attire, silver parka and combat boots with a bow slung across her back.

The other girl looked like a princess that came from a Disney movie. Her hair was snowy white and was tied into a braid. She wore what Jason assumed was a hunting gown. A white dress that's fit at the top and loosely hung from the waist down.

The Hunter had her hunting knives out while the other girl was holding what looks like an icicle shaped like a sword.

"I don't want to fight." The Hunter. "We can talk this out, Gelida."

The girl, Gelida, mocked a laugh. "Hah. Enough of your seductive words, _graecus_. You work for Mother Earth. You smell like the Earth as well."

"That's just your nose being stuffed with your ego," The Hunter countered.

"That's it!" Gelida lunged with her weapon.

Jason got out of hiding and ran straight towards them, not realizing the silver arrow heading straight for his head.

**A/N: Sorry about the delay on the chapter. Got caught up with work.**

**So, a few notices.**

**Starting next week and the week after that, I might not be able to update anything because I'm gonna be away on vacation. So, yeah. I'll try to prepare chapters for several of my stories so that you guys are entertained. Sorry about that in advance.**

**Second, the new semester has started and I'm gonna be busy again. So, sorry. I'll keep writing though, so don't worry.**

**Thirdly, am about to finish a chapter for Game of Olympia. Hooray!**

**That's all for now. See you guys next time.**


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